Experimental Study Detection of CD4+ and CD8+ T Cells in the Brown Adipose Tissue

Abstract

Brown adipose tissues (BAT) have special active functions including thermogenesis, anti-obesity, and antidiabetic properties. Researchers have shown the immune roles of BAT in relation immune depression in deep hypothermia and lymphocyte accumulation in the spleen as detected in adipectomized rats. In this study we aimed to clarify immune functions of hibernating marmot BAT which continue to be used in pancreatitis treatment in Mongolia. In this study, 10 marmots were selected. The subject pool was limited license are needed for marmot use. Disengaged BAT was located between subcapularis and serratus anterior muscles. It was inserted into 96% of alcohol and 10% formalin for fixation. Histology examination was used with standard protocol of hematoxylin and eosin staining protocol. Fluorescenceactivated cell sorting method (Apogee Universal-50, England) was used to count the CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in the BAT of mice. The study selected BALB/c mode, 20 male mice 80-90 days-old. Marmots are not experimental animals therefore reagents of tissue cell count were limited. The BAT (marmot) histology observation showed connective tissue in the lobules reached by blood vessel branches and detected brown fat tissue surrounding follicle which included vessels with blood cells. Regarding tissue cell count results, the BAT detected a total of 24827/µL lymphocytes, which included 2056/µL (5.50%) CD4+ T cells and 991/µL (6.71%) CD8+ T cells, respectively. This study's results suggest the brown fat is may be an immune organ as shown by the lymphoid tissue follicle and lymphocyte subsets in the BAT.