Abstract
BackgroundOur previous study suggested that SEB exposure in pregnant rats could lead to the change of T cells subpopulation in both peripheral blood and thymus of the offspring rats. However, rarely is known about the influence of SEB exposure in pregnant rats on T cell subpopulation in the spleens of offspring rats.ResultsSEB was intravenously administered to the pregnant rats at gestational day 16 in this study. The percentages, in vivo and in vitro responses of CD4 and CD8 T cells were investigated with flow cytometry. The prenatal SEB exposure obviously increased splenic CD4 T cell percentages of both neonates and adult offspring rats, and obviously reduced splenic CD8 T cell percentages of both the fifth day neonates and adult offspring rats. After spleens in the adult offspring rats were re-stimulated with SEB in vivo or in vitro, in vivo SEB stimulation could lead to the marked decrease of splenic CD4 T cell percentage and the marked increase of splenic CD8 T cell percentage. While in vitro SEB stimulation to the cultured splenocytes markedly decreased the proliferation of the splenic lymphocytes and the CD4 T cell percentage, and had no influence on CD8 T cell percentage.ConclusionThe prenatal SEB exposure could alter the percentages of CD4/CD8 T cell subpopulation and the response of CD4 and CD8 T cells to the in vivo and in vitro secondary SEB stimulation in the splenocytes of adult offspring rats.
Highlights
Our previous study suggested that staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB) exposure in pregnant rats could lead to the change of T cells subpopulation in both peripheral blood and thymus of the offspring rats
Influence of SEB exposed prenatally on splenic CD4/CD8 T cells of offspring rats Compared with the phosphate buffer saline (PBS) group, CD4 T cell percentage was obviously increased in the spleens of neonatal rats between days 0 and 5 after delivery (Fig. 1a), while CD8 T cell percentage was significantly decreased in the fifth-day neonates in the SEB group, but not different between the PBS and SEB groups between days 0 and 4 after delivery (Fig. 1b)
These results suggest that SEB exposure in pregnant rats was able to cause the decreased percentage of CD8 T cells accompanied by a relative increase in the percentage of CD4 T cells and could imprint the changes of the CD4 and CD8 T cell percentage from neonatal to adult offspring rats
Summary
Our previous study suggested that SEB exposure in pregnant rats could lead to the change of T cells subpopulation in both peripheral blood and thymus of the offspring rats. Rarely is known about the influence of SEB exposure in pregnant rats on T cell subpopulation in the spleens of offspring rats. The immune response of T cells to SEB displays a biphasic change [5, 6] which consists of an early activation presented as T cell proliferation and a second anergy due to apoptosis of the appropriate T cells. Our previous study suggested that SEB exposure in pregnant rats could influence the T cells subpopulation in both peripheral blood and thymus of the offspring rats [13,14,15], but rarely is known about how SEB exposure in pregnant rats to influence the splenic T cell subpopulation of offspring rats.
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