Ageing modulates some aspects of the non-specific immune response of murine macrophages and lymphocytes

Abstract

The deterioration of the immune system with ageing, which leads to an increased morbidity and mortality from infections, appears to be related to decreases in specific lymphocyte functions. However, the alteration of non-specific immunity is a more controversial subject. Our purpose was to investigate the age-related changes of different functions of the non-specific immune response in peritoneal macrophages (adherence to tissues, mobility directed to a chemical gradient from an infectious focus or chemotaxis, phagocytosis of foreign agents and destruction of these agents by superoxide anion production) and in lymphocytes (adherence and chemotaxis) from peritoneum, axillary lymph nodes, spleen and thymus. We used young (12 weeks), adult (22 weeks), mature (48 weeks) and old (72 weeks) female BALB/c mice. The adherence capacity of macrophages and lymphocytes was greater in adult and old mice than in young animals. The chemotaxis of macrophages showed higher values in cells from young mice than in those from adult mice, increasing again in macrophages from mature and old animals. A similar behaviour was shown by phagocytosis, which reached its highest values in old animals. Anion superoxide production increased with age and again the highest values were obtained in the oldest mice. Conversely, chemotaxis of lymphocytes was higher in the adult and mature animals than in the young and old animals. We conclude that, although there is a decrease in lymphocyte chemotaxis in old animals, the non-specific immune response of macrophages instead of decreasing, may increase in aged mice with respect to the values seen in adult mice. Experimental Physiology (2000) 85.5, 519-525.

Dahi containing Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium bifidum improves phagocytic potential of macrophages in aged mice

“…A significant decline in the adherence index was also observed in 16 mo old mice. Concurrent with our observation, Ortega et al (2000) observed a significant decline in adherence index during 22-48 weeks of age in female balb/c mice. The decline in adherence index of peritoneal macrophages with ageing could be because of decline in the ability of macrophages to form pseudopods (Johnson et al 1978), and decline in expression of various cell adhesion factors (ICAM-1 or VCAM-1) as reported in case neutrophils and monocytes of elderly (De Martinis et al 2004).…”

Effects of antioxidants on immune system ageing

“…However, age does not affect all aspects of the immune response equally, since the influence of age on the non-specific immune response mechanism is not always negative. Thus, some studies suggest that the phagocytic cell functions do not change throughout life, while others have observed a senescent decrease or increase in them (Ortega et al, 2000). These different results have been attributed to an inappropriate choice of the age of the animals, which were considered old when really they were still not so.…”

“…These different results have been attributed to an inappropriate choice of the age of the animals, which were considered old when really they were still not so. Therefore, we have studied several immune functions of phagocytes (non-specific functions such as adherence, chemotaxis, ingestion and superoxide anion production as well as the production of proinflammatory cytokines TNF-a and IL-1b), of lymphocytes (adherence, chemotaxis, lymphoproliferations and IL-2 production) and NK activity in a range of ages in mice and humans (Ortega et al, 2000;De la Fuente & Victor, 2000;Guayerbas et al, 2002a,b). The changes of those functions with ageing are summarized in Table 1.…”

Tryptophan-enriched cereal intake improves nocturnal sleep, melatonin, serotonin, and total antioxidant capacity levels and mood in elderly humans

“…Aging is a very complex process that is related to circadian rhythm disruption and produces sleep disturbances (Huang et al 2002) and other physiological or psychological dysfunctions (Barnard and Nolan 2008) including impaired nutrient absorption (Meier and Sturm 2009;Woudstra and Thomson 2002), immunosenescence (Canizzo et al 2011;Hutt et al 2010;Ortega et al 2000), decrease in hormone levels (Ferrari and Magri 2008), or neuronal death (Shankar 2010;Qureshi and Parvez 2007). Adequate daily sleep is an important part of a healthy and productive lifestyle.…”