The effect of restraint stress on glucocorticoid receptors in mouse spleen lymphocytes: involvement of the sympathetic nervous system.

Objective: Reciprocal pathways of interaction between the nervous and immune systems during stress may be regulated by stress-induced circulating glucocorticoids that act via type II glucocorticoid receptors (GRs). The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of restraint stress on GRs in lymphocytes and the role of the sympathetic system in this effect.

Methods: We used male Balb/c mice which were adrenalectomized 3 days before exposure to restraint stress (4 h).

Restraint stress-induced thymic involution and cell apoptosis are dependent on endogenous glucocorticoids.

The aim of this study was to investigate the specific role of endogenous glucocorticoids (GC) following restraint stress on thymic involution and apoptosis. Restraint stress has been reported to alter physiological and behavioral responses in experimental animals. Exposure of mice to restraint stress led to involution of the thymus, to a decrease of the CD4+ 8+ thymocyte subset, and to fragmentation of thymic DNA.