A. Fietta et al., INFLUENCE OF AGING ON SOME SPECIFIC AND NONSPECIFIC MECHANISMS OF THEHOST-DEFENSE SYSTEM IN 146 HEALTHY-SUBJECTS, Gerontology, 40(5), 1994, pp. 237-245
The influence of aging on some parameters of systemic host defense mec
hanisms, i.e. white cell counts, lymphocyte subpopulations, delayed-ty
pe hypersensitivity (DTH), polymorphonuclear and mononuclear leukocyte
functions, was evaluated. One hundred and forty-six healthy volunteer
s (60 men and 86 women), aged 25-100 years, were enrolled. None of the
subjects had taken any drug in the month before the study. Subjects w
ere divided into three age groups: 25-45, 46-65 and 66-100 years. Grou
ps were comparable in size, and sex distribution was similar throughou
t all age groups. Elderly people were 51 healthy volunteers between th
e ages of 66 and 100 years (mean age 79.2). Younger people were 41 sub
jects between the ages of 46 and 65 years (mean age 54.3) and 53 betwe
en the ages of 25 and 45 years (mean age 32.7). As for the comparison
between sexes, no significant differences in the values of the studied
parameters were found between males and females (p > 0.05). Only quan
titative DTH data, i.e. the number of antigens producing positive reac
tions and the score (sum of positive reaction diameters), were signifi
cantly (p < 0.05) reduced in responsive females when compared to males
. Aging did not affect white cell counts, lymphocyte subsets and many
phagocytic functions, i.e. phagocytosis frequency and index, nitroblue
tetrazolium reduction, superoxide production, microbicidal activity a
gainst bacteria and yeasts. A significant decrease (p < 0.05) in the c
hemotactic response to serum-derived chemotactic factors was observed
in aged people in comparison to younger subjects. Anergy was more freq
uent in older (about 29%) than in younger (5-9.4%) healthy volunteers.
Among the responsive population, the number of antigens producing pos
itive reactions was superposable in the three age groups while the DTH
score was significantly (p < 0.05) increased in the elderly. Results
of the study suggest that aging is responsible only for minor changes
in many important mechanisms of the defense system in healthy individu
als.