IMMUNORESTORATIVE EFFECT OF THYMOSTIMULIN ON SURGERY IMMUNODEPRESSION- EXPERIMENTAL-MODEL

The purpose of the present study is to ascertain the immunorestorative effect of two different drugs on immunodepression induced by small bo wel surgical resection in an experimental model. The potential immunor estorative effect has been measured by the ability of the drug to avoi d the delay of skin allograft rejection induced by surgery and the inh ibition of CD4/CD8 index changes induced by surgery in spleen tissue. 120 Wistar-Furth rats (age 12-16 weeks) anesthetized with a single int ramuscular dose of ketamine (25 mg), diazepine (4 mg) and atropine (0. 1 mg) were allotted to two main groups. One group received a skin graf t (SG) from Fisher 344 rats and was treated with placebo, Inmunoferon( R) (AM-3 polypeptidic drug) or TP-1(R) (thymostimulin) before the expe riment (groups I, II, III) or treated with placebo, Inmunoferon or TP- 1 before the experiment and underwent enterectomy and anastomosis (gro ups IV, V, VI). On the 2nd, 5th and 8th postoperative days, biopsies o f the SG were taken and the signs of rejection were microscopically st udied and evaluated by a pathologist as zero, incipient, moderate or m assive. The other group was treated similarly, but the animals did not receive a SG and were splenectomized 5 days later. CD4 and CD8 lympho cyte subpopulations were identified by means of immunoperoxidase techn ique and monoclonal antibodies. Thymostimulin is able to stimulate the presence of SG rejection signs on the 2nd postoperative day in nonent erectomized animals and on the 8th postoperative day in enterectomized rats and is able to avoid the decrease of the CD4/CD8 index in spleen tissue after surgical immunodepression. AM-3 has less effect on the p resence of SG rejection signs and CD4/CD8 index than thymostimulin.