HOST RESPONSE TO MYCOBACTRIAL INFETION IN THE ALCOHOLIC MALE AND FEMALE RAT

ＨＯＳＴＲＥＳＰＯＮＳＥＴＯＭＹＣＯＢＡＣＴＲＩＡＬＩＮＦＥＴＩＯＮＩＮＴＨＥＡＬＣＯＨＯＬＩＣＭＡＬＥＡＮＤＦＥＭＡＬＥ　ＲＡＴＬｉＸｕａｎｈａｉ（李宣海）（ＴｈｅＴｈｉｒｄＲｅｓｅａｒｃｈｌａｂｏｒａｔｏｒｙｏｆＤｉｇｅｓｔｉｖｅＤｉｓｅａｓｅｓ...

HOST RESPONSE TO MYCOBACTRIAL INFETION IN THE ALCOHOLIC MALE AND FEMALE RAT

male and 12 femals Sprague-Dawiey rats were treated with either a Lieber-type liquid ethanol diet (LED) or an isocaloric control (LCD). After 2 weeks, half the subjects were infected with BCG (108CFU) and sacrificed after 42 days. Splenic pan T-cells (Thy1 and CD5), helper (CD4) and suppressor/cytotoxic (CD8) cells were quantitated by flow cytometry. By 3 way analysis of variance, splenic cellularity was significantly increased by infeclion (P<0.0001) but suppressed by LED. There was a marginal sexual difference (P<0.065) with feniales exhibiting a 35% lower response while on alcohol. Examining lymphocyte subsets, the most significant changes were in pan T-cells influenced by sex (P=0.0014), infection (P<0.0001) and LED (P<0.0001); and CD4 influenced by LED (P=0.0002) and infecton (P<0.0001) with a highly significant interaction that effected both absolute number (P<0.0001) and relative percent (P=0.0078). CD8 was influenced only by infection. TMs resulted in an infection-related increase in the CD4/CD8 ratio which was lower with LED (P=0. 0032). Splenic T-lymphocytes, predominately CD4, are involved in the host response to BCG hepatitis and are adversely infiuenced by LED which may contribute to increased susceptibility.