Effects of Deuterium Depletion on Age-Declining Thymopoiesis In Vivo
Nataliya V. Yaglova,
Sergey S. Obernikhin,
Ekaterina P. Timokhina,
Dibakhan A. Tsomartova,
Valentin V. Yaglov,
Svetlana V. Nazimova,
Elina S. Tsomartova,
Marina Y. Ivanova,
Elizaveta V. Chereshneva,
Tatiana A. Lomanovskaya
Affiliations
Nataliya V. Yaglova
Laboratory of Endocrine System Development, A.P. Avtsyn Research Institute of Human Morphology of Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution “Petrovsky National Research Centre of Surgery”, 119991 Moscow, Russia
Sergey S. Obernikhin
Laboratory of Endocrine System Development, A.P. Avtsyn Research Institute of Human Morphology of Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution “Petrovsky National Research Centre of Surgery”, 119991 Moscow, Russia
Ekaterina P. Timokhina
Laboratory of Endocrine System Development, A.P. Avtsyn Research Institute of Human Morphology of Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution “Petrovsky National Research Centre of Surgery”, 119991 Moscow, Russia
Dibakhan A. Tsomartova
Laboratory of Endocrine System Development, A.P. Avtsyn Research Institute of Human Morphology of Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution “Petrovsky National Research Centre of Surgery”, 119991 Moscow, Russia
Valentin V. Yaglov
Laboratory of Endocrine System Development, A.P. Avtsyn Research Institute of Human Morphology of Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution “Petrovsky National Research Centre of Surgery”, 119991 Moscow, Russia
Svetlana V. Nazimova
Laboratory of Endocrine System Development, A.P. Avtsyn Research Institute of Human Morphology of Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution “Petrovsky National Research Centre of Surgery”, 119991 Moscow, Russia
Elina S. Tsomartova
Laboratory of Endocrine System Development, A.P. Avtsyn Research Institute of Human Morphology of Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution “Petrovsky National Research Centre of Surgery”, 119991 Moscow, Russia
Marina Y. Ivanova
Department of Human Anatomy and Histology, Federal State Funded Educational Institution of Higher Education I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, 119435 Moscow, Russia
Elizaveta V. Chereshneva
Department of Human Anatomy and Histology, Federal State Funded Educational Institution of Higher Education I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, 119435 Moscow, Russia
Tatiana A. Lomanovskaya
Department of Human Anatomy and Histology, Federal State Funded Educational Institution of Higher Education I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, 119435 Moscow, Russia
The thymus provides maturation and migration of T cells to peripheral organs of immunity, where they recognize diverse antigens and maintain immunological memory and self-tolerance. The thymus is known to be involved with age and in response to stress factors. Therefore, the search for approaches to the restoration of thymopoiesis is of great interest. The present investigation was aimed at evaluating how prolonged deuterium depletion affects morphogenetic processes and the physiological transition of the thymus to age-related involution. The study was performed on 60 male Wistar rats subjected to consumption of deuterium-depleted water with a 10 ppm deuterium content for 28 days. The control rats consumed distilled water with a normal deuterium content of 150 ppm. The examination found no significant differences in body weight gain or the amount of water consumed. The exposed rats exhibited similar to control dynamics of the thymus weight but significant changes in thymic cell maturation according to cytofluorimetric analysis of thymic subpopulations. Changes in T cell production were not monotonic and differentially engaged morphogenetic processes of cell proliferation, differentiation, and migration. The reactive response to deuterium depletion was a sharp increase in the number of progenitor CD4−CD8− cells and their differentiation into T cells. The compensatory reaction was inhibition of thymopoiesis with more pronounced suppression of differentiation of T-cytotoxic lymphocytes, followed by intensification of emigration of mature T cells to the bloodstream. This period lasts from 3 to 14 days, then differentiation of thymic lymphocytes is restored, later cell proliferation is activated, and finally the thymopoiesis rate exceeds the control values. The increase in the number of thymic progenitor cells after 3–4 weeks suggests consideration of deuterium elimination as a novel approach to prevent thymus involution.
