Chronic restraint stress induces severe disruption of the T-cell specific response to tetanus toxin vaccine

Chronic stress is known to induce immunological disorders. In the present s tudy we examined the consequences of chronic restraint stress on the immune response to tetanus toxin in mice. We investigated the repartition of subs ets of lymphoid cells in blood and spleen, the functional ability of lympho cytes to proliferate and to produce cytokines, and antibody titres against tetanus toxin following stress. We report discordance of the stimulation in dex of lymphocytes in the restraint group: the proliferating rate severely decreased following stimulation with a relevant antigen, whereas it increas ed with mitogen. Thus, we report a decrease in cytokine production with rel evant antigen (interferon-gamma and interleukin-10), without a T helper typ e 1 and 2 secretion imbalance. Moreover, we observed an alteration in the h umoral response, including a delay in isotype maturation and an immunoglobu lin G1/G2a imbalance.