Timulin against inflammation
Nanoparticles with thymus hormone relieved mice from chronic inflammation.
They also increased the content of serotonin and melatonin in the brain of rodents.
The staff of the Institute of Cell Biophysics of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Pushchino) investigated the effect of the hormone thymus (thymus gland) – thymulin – on the activity of various types of cells of the immune system of mice with chronic inflammation. It turned out that both free and bound to polybutyl cyanoacrylate nanoparticles, thymulin reduces the number of cells that die by apoptosis in such rodents, as well as the intensity of fever and the formation of pro-inflammatory cytokines. The scientific article was published in the journal PLoS ONE (Novoselova et al., Thymulin, free or bound to PBCA nanoparticles, protects mice against chronic septic inflammation).
The study used male albino laboratory mice of the BALB/c line aged from 8 to 10 weeks. For eight days, they were injected with ever-increasing doses of lipopolysaccharides from the surface of Escherichia coli Escherichia coli cells once a day. These substances cause an inflammatory reaction in the body of mice, since normally their presence signals infection with bacteria. On the first and fifth days of lipopolysaccharide injections, rodents were also injected with thymulin in one of two forms – free or attached to polybutyl cyanoacrylate nanoparticles. There were five groups of animals in total: control (nothing was injected), inflammation (only lipopolysaccharides were injected), inflammation + free thymulin, inflammation + nanoparticles with thymulin, nanoparticles (polysaccharides and thymulin were not injected).
Body temperature in the anus was measured daily in all rodents to assess the intensity of inflammatory reactions and the presence of fever. After eight days of the experiment, the mice were killed and the brain was taken out of them, and blood was also taken. The content of melatonin and serotonin in brain tissues was taken into account first of all. The levels of proinflammatory cytokines and the activity of immune cells of various types were determined in the blood, and the proportion of lymphocytes that died as a result of apoptosis was also noted. In addition, the scientists counted the cells in the spleen. This parameter is important, since this organ produces antibodies and this largely determines the effectiveness of the immune system.
All mice had increased body temperature after injections of Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharides. However, the introduction of timulin in any form lowered it to normal. The effect of the two variants of this hormone was similar, but it was more pronounced in the group that was injected with thymulin bound to nanoparticles. The intensity of inflammatory reactions and associated signaling pathways, as well as the production of corresponding cytokines in such animals were reduced compared to the control. "Empty" nanoparticles did not give such an effect. Also, the introduction of timulin led to the fact that a smaller percentage of lymphocytes underwent apoptosis due to inflammation and there were more cells in the spleen. Finally, mice that received the hormone in parallel with E. coli lipopolysaccharides kept the levels of serotonin and melatonin in the brain close to normal, while rodents who were not offered timulin did not.
Thus, the use of timulin in chronic inflammation caused by substances characteristic of bacteria reduces its intensity and supports the functioning of the immune system, as well as the brain. The hormone acts more effectively if it is bound to nanoparticles of polybutyl cyanoacrylate.
Thymulin is one of the hormones produced by the thymus (thymus gland). It activates various types of T-lymphocytes (T-killers and T-helpers), accelerates tissue regeneration, and also increases the intensity of interferon production and phagocytosis (capture of food fragments by cells, including other cells entirely). However, its complex positive effect on the body in chronic inflammation caused by bacteria is shown for the first time.
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