Features of immune reactions to short-term general cooling in practically healthy residents of Arkhangelsk, depending on the levels of cholesterol in the blood

Abstract

AIM: to identify the features of immune reactions in practically healthy individuals in response to short-term cold exposure, depending on the level of total cholesterol in the blood.MATERIALS AND METHODS: On the basis of the Laboratory of Ecological Immunology of the Institute of Physiology of Natural Adaptations of the Federal Research Center for Integrated Arctic Studies named after Academician N.P. Laverov of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 108 practically healthy women living in Arkhangelsk aged 21 to 50 years were examined. Blood was taken from the ulnar vein on an empty stomach in the morning before and immediately after general cooling for 5 minutes at a temperature of -25 °C. The complex of immunological studies included the study of venous blood hemograms: the number of platelets, erythrocytes, leukocytes, total hemoglobin in the blood, leukograms, phagocytic activity of neutrophils and blood monocytes, determination of cytokines IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α. The study of the lipid profile included the determination of total cholesterol, glucose, triglycerides, phospholipids.RESULTS: In the Q1 group, no cases of hemoglobin deficiency were recorded, while in the Q4 group, hemoglobin deficiency was recorded in 14.29% of the surveyed, and after a short–term general cooling — in 21.43%. The total number of platelets, as well as the thrombocrit index in the Q4 group was significantly higher (259.07×10^3 cells/µl and 0.27%, respectively). The Q4 group had higher average monocyte levels in the leukocytogram (0.40±0.10×10^9 cl/l and 6.26±1.43% compared with 0.24±0.06×10^9 cl/l and 4.46±1.40%, p<0.05). It was revealed that persons from the Q1 group with higher background levels of CD4+, CD71+ lymphocytes are sensitive to short-term general cooling and whose CD4+, CD8+, CD25+, CD71+, CD56+ cells decrease by 1.3–1.6 times after visiting the cold chamber. The cytokine profile in the Q4 group was characterized by higher levels of IL-1β (7.13 pg/ml) and TNF-α (14.3 pg/ml). After short-term cold stress, a twofold increase in TNF-α was observed in the Q1 group from 6.77 to 13.33 pg/ml, and in the Q4 group a sharp decrease in IL-1β from 7.13 to 3.44 pg/ml.CONCLUSION: The immunological background in the Q4 group of subjects with cholesterol levels close to the upper limit of the norm is in a more tense state, due to reactions from monocytes and lymphocytes of peripheral blood, higher levels of proinflammatory cytokines. The response to short-term general cold exposure is more pronounced in individuals of the Q1 group with minimal cholesterol levels. In 14.29% of people with cholesterol levels close to the upper limit of the norm, peripheral blood hemoglobin deficiency was recorded, and after short–term cold exposure — in 21.34%.

Keywords

• сholesterol
• сold temperature
• immunity.