81. The acute restraint stress cause changes in the phenotype of splenic lymphocytes, but no in dendritic cells

Abstract

The effects of stress cause significant changes on the immune system. Dendritic cells and lymphocytes are key cells of the acquired immune response. The first are the mains antigen presenting cells and, the second are the effectors of acquired immune response. Therefore, we evaluated, herein, dendritic cells and lymphocytes alterations in BALB/c male mice caused by acute restraint stress model (protocol of bioethics committee 2568/2012). The experimental group was underwent three sessions (on alternate days) of restraint stress of placing animals in plexiglas tubes (14 × 7 cm) lasting 2 h each session. Immediately after the stress session, all the animals were euthanized for blood collection and removal of the spleen. The phenotypic analysis of dendritic cells and lymphocytes present in the spleen was performed by flow cytometry with the following markers: MHCII, CD11c, CD80, CD86, CD3, CD4, CD8 and CD28. The results show that restraint stress did not significantly alter the phenotype of spleen DCs, however it alter the phenotype of CD4 and CD8 lymphocytes populations. The next experiments will investigate the effect of this model of stress on function of these cells by lymphocyte proliferation and endocytosis assays.