Effects of an illicit cocktail on serum immunoglobulins, lymphocyte proliferation and cytokine gene expression in the veal calf

详细信息    查看全文

• 作者：Michela Cantiello ; Monica Carletti ; Francesca T. Cannizzo ; Carlo Nebbia ; Claudio Bellino ; S ; rine Pié ; Isabelle P. Oswald ; Enrico Bollo ; Mauro Dacasto
• 关键词：Clenbuterol ; Dexamethasone ; 17β ; -Oestradiol ; Illicit treatment ; Cattle ; Immunotoxicity
• 刊名：Toxicology
• 出版年：2007
• 出版时间：5 December 2007
• 年：2007
• 卷：242
• 期：1-3
• 页码：39-51
• 全文大小：848 K

文摘

At the European Union level, the use of growth promoters (GPs) in cattle and other food-producing species is forbidden; nonetheless, the illicit use of anabolic hormones, β-agonists and corticosteroids, often administered in cocktails at lower concentrations to overcome control procedures, is still of public concern. The immune system (IS) is a multicomponent system that provide a coordinated response toward infectious diseases, not self-neoplasms and xenobiotics; in this respect, some GPs have been proved able to cause both morphological alterations in lymphoid organs and a modulating effect upon some immunological parameters. Therefore, in the present study the effects of an illicit cocktail upon the cattle IS functions were investigated by using some common endpoints adopted for the IS testing in humans.

Twelve cross-bred male veal calves were divided in two experimental groups (n = 6); the first group was administered a cocktail of 17β-oestradiol (10 mg, 3 im injections at 17 days intervals), clenbuterol (20 μg kg⁻¹, per os for 40 days) and dexamethasone (4 mg per os for 6 days and, then, 5 mg for further 6 days) for a total of 55 days. The second one was used as control. Blood sampling were taken at T₀ and after 15 (T₁), 34 (T₂), 48 (T₃) days as well as the day before slaughtering (T₄). Immune endpoints considered were the thymus weight, the serum immunoglobulin G (IgG) and M (IgM) levels, the lymphocyte proliferation assay and the lymphocyte interleukins 1β and 8, tumour necrosis factor α and interferon γ (IFN-γ) gene expression levels.

The administration of the illicit cocktail resulted in: (a) a reduction (P < 0.01) of both the absolute and relative thymus weight; (b) a decrease (P < 0.05) of both IgG and IgM serum levels at T₁, whereas in the second part of the study increasing levels (P < 0.05 at T₂ and T₄ for IgM and IgG, respectively) were recorded; (c) an overall reduction (P < 0.001, P < 0.05) of lymphocyte proliferation rate at T₁; in phytohaemagglutinin-stimulated cells, such a decrease was delayed up to T₂ (P < 0.05); (d) a reduction (P < 0.05) in IFN-γ mRNA levels at T₁ and T₂.

Taken together, present data suggest that GPs, even given in cocktails at sub-therapeutic dosages, can modulate the cattle IS, thereby hampering itself to exert its physiological role in defence mechanisms. Further studies are required to confirm and investigate these results.