Background:Up to now, many “immunoactive” brain areas have been identified, such a hypothalamic nuclei, brain reward system; but the nucleus ambiguous (Amb), a nucleus nervi vagis of medulla oblongata, was less well studied in neuroimmunomodulation.Methods:In order to obtain more profound comprehension and more knowledge on Amb, we studied the effect of acute electrical stimulation of Amb on thymus and spleen activity in rat. A stimulator was applied to stimulate the Amb of the anaesthetic rats using the parameter at 100μAx5ms x100 Hz every 1s for 1 min. The levels of TGF-β and thymosin-β4 mRNA in thymus, the release of IL-2 and IL-6 at splenocyte in vitro and splenic lymphocyte proliferation were measured at hour 0.5,1,2,3 following the electrical stimulation.Results:The results showed that concanavalin A (Con A)-induced splenic lymphocyte proliferation and the release of IL-2 and IL-6 were all significantly enhanced at 0.5, 1, and 2 h following effective Amb stimulation as compared to in the control group. However, as compared to in the control group, the levels of TGF-β and thymosin-β4 mRNA in the thymus were both remarkably reduced at 0.5, 1, and 2 h following effective Amb stimulation.Conclusions:These findings reveal that the Amb participates in the modulation of animal immune functions.
Suppressive effects of sodium fluoride on cultured splenic lymphocyte proliferation in mice
