STRESS PROMOTES AUTOIMMUNITY IN EXPERIMENTAL TYPE 1 DIABETES

SANCHEZ, MARÍA BELÉN; MACKERN OBERTI, JUAN PABLO

Buenos Aires

Congreso; SAIC SAI SAFIS 2018 Joint Meeting; 2018

SAIC

Autoimmune diseases are multifactorial disorders in which environment, hormones and genetics are involved. Immune cells can be modulated by several endocrine mediators, Prolactin (PRL) and glucocorticoids among them. It is known that stress influences the immune system; however the role of psychological stress exposure on autoimmunity is still controversial. Our aim was to investigate whether chronic unpredictable stress (CUS) enhances development of Type 1 Diabetes autoimmunity in NOD mice. For this, NOD and BALB/c female mice were exposed to CUS consisting in restraint, isolation, forced swim, 24 hours light and tilting the home cage at 45° inclination for 24 hours, during 3 months. We found an increase in CD45+ cell infiltration of the pancreas mainly conformed by CD4+ T cells in CUS compared to untreated (UT) NOD mice (UT 0,78±0,12 vs CUS 2,17±0,50; t test; p< 0,05). Furthermore, the CUS group displayed a 3,2 fold increase in CD4+ T cell infiltration of the pancreas compared to the UT group (UT 0,207±0,039 vs CUS 0,75±0,19; p< 0,05). Histological studies showed that the CUS treated NOD group had an increase in immune cells infiltration located mainly in interlobulillar areas. Additionally, we found that CUS increased the long form of PRL receptor mRNA in the spleen (p