Abstract
Animals’ immunity is an important factor to determine their survival and fitness. Unpredictable food shortage is common to small mammals due to fluctuation of food resources throughout a year. In general, acute food deprivation (FD) inhibited immune function in rodents. In the present study we tested the hypothesis that stochastic FD would also suppress T cell-mediated immunity in mice. Fifteen adult male Kunming mice were randomly assigned into the Fed (n = 7) and FD (n = 8) groups, in which the latter were subjected to stochastic FD regime. Unexpectedly, T cell-mediated immunity assessed by PHA response was increased in the FD mice compared with the fed controls. However, body fat mass, wet thymus and spleen mass, white blood cells, serum leptin and corticosterone concentrations did not differ between the Fed and FD groups. Taken together, stochastic food deprivation can enhance cellular immunity in Kunming mice.
Highlights
Animals’ immunity provides an important shelter against attack of pathogens in the environment and plays a crucial role in their survival and their fitness [1] [2]
Delayed type hypersensitivity (DTH) indicative of T-cell immune response decreased in starved rats or ICR mice compared to the fed controls [10]-[12], and food deprivation for 2 days could increase susceptibility to endotoxic shock in starved mice [13]
Stochastic food deprivation significantly reduced wet carcass mass (t = 2.169, df = 13, P = 0.049), whereas other body composition and wet organ masses did not differ between the fed ad libitum (Fed) and FD groups (Table 1, Table 2)
Summary
Animals’ immunity provides an important shelter against attack of pathogens in the environment and plays a crucial role in their survival and their fitness [1] [2]. Small mammals often face periods of unpredictable food shortage due to the fluctuation of food resources throughout a year [3] [4] Many factors such as food quantity and quality exert significant influence on immune function for animals [5]-[8]. Some researchers have investigated the influences of food shortage on immune function, yet they have disparate results. Lord et al [9] demonstrated that food deprivation for 2 days suppressed T-cell immune response in C57BL/6 mice. Delayed type hypersensitivity (DTH) indicative of T-cell immune response decreased in starved rats or ICR mice compared to the fed controls [10]-[12], and food deprivation for 2 days could increase susceptibility to endotoxic shock in starved mice [13]. Further research is required to clarify these inconsistent results in more mice strains or species
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