Stress Suppresses Systemic Th17/Treg Imbalance in Rats with Experimental Autoimmune Uveitis

ABSTRACT

Purpose

To explore the effect of chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) on the immune response involved in rats with experimental autoimmune uveitis (EAU).

Methods

Lewis rats were randomly divided into control, EAU, CUMS, and EAU+CUMS groups and received relevant treatments. On days 7, 11, 14, 21 and 28, frequencies of Th17 and Treg cells and the related cytokines were analyzed.

Results

The intraocular inflammation of EAU rats peaked between days 11 and 13, while the severity of inflammation of the rats in EAU+CUMS group fluctuated between 11 and 15 days. Both frequencies of Th17, Treg cells and the related cytokines exhibited a significant difference between the two groups on days 11 and 14.

Conclusion

CUMS may protect against the possible harmful effects of immune disorder in rats with EAU through suppressing the immune disorder of T lymphocyte and the related cytokine responses.

KEYWORDS:

• Chronic unpredictable mild stress
• experimental autoimmune uveitis
• T helper 17
• regulatory T cell
• cytokine

Declaration of interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interes. Tthe authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Project (2019YFC1710200), the Development Project of Science and Technology of Traditional Chinese Medicine of Shandong Province (2015-147, 2015-145), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81403438, 81873163), and the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong province (ZR2014HP059, ZR2017LH042, ZR2020KC024).