Effect of chronic restraint stress on immune status of male sprague dawley rats

To determine the effect of chronic restraint stress on immune status of Sprague Dawley rats by comparing total leukocyte count [TLC], total lymphocyte count and levels of serum immunoglobulins A, E, G and M of the rats exposed to chronic restraint stress with that of healthy control rats. Quasi-experimental study. Centre of Research in Experimental and Applied Medicine [CREAM], Army Medical College, Rawalpindi, in collaboration of National Institute of Health [NIH], Islamabad, from June 2008 to June 2009. Sixty healthy male Sprague Dawley rats were obtained from NIH. Rats were divided into two groups, each having 30 rats. The rats of group-I were not exposed to chronic restraint stress, while rats of group-II were exposed to chronic restraint stress in meshwire restrainer for 6 hours daily for 15 days. Estimation of total lymphocyte count and serum immunoglobulins [IgG, IgA, IgM and IgE] was carried out and compared between the groups. TLC, lymphocyte count and serum IgA, IgE, IgG and IgM levels were found significantly lower in rats exposed to chronic restraint stress as compared to the rats which were not exposed to stress [p < 0.001]. Chronic restraint stress compromises immune status of rats by decreasing the levels of immunoglobulins and lymphocyte count

Immunoglobulin E screening of serum and lacrimal fluid: a new dimension in the management of chronic conjunctivitis

The purpose of present study is to differentiate between allergic and environment related chronic conjunctivitis on the basis of the measurement of Immunoglobulin E levels in tears and serum. Forty specimens of tear and serum from drivers were sent for Immunoglobulin E assay. Samples were divided clinically into two categories. Group A included twenty four samples [60%] who were clinically chronic conjunctivitis [chronic conjunctivitis is defined here as conjunctival inflammation of period greater than a year, remissions and relapses, with no obvious cause/ophthalmic disease and patient on or off topical treatment] and group B included sixteen samples [40%], of clinically normal [normal having no ocular symptoms] [control]. Length of service as driver, hours of daytime driving, primary ocular symptom, history of atopy or allergy, tear film break up time [BUT] were emphasized at history and ophthalmic examination. None of the subjects had clinically obvious cause of conjunctivitis. The group-A [patients] were randomly treated with fluoromethalone and artificial tears. The patients were required to record the subjective improvement. Tear Immunoglobulin E values were normal [1-2ku/L] in both A and B groups. Serum Immunoglobulin E was elevated significantly in twenty samples [84%] in group A [clinically chronic conjunctivitis] whereas, it was elevated in six samples [38%] in group B [clinically normal group]. Serum Immunoglobulin E levels were normal in 16% and 62% of group A and B respectively. The recovery was significant with fluoromethalone use at 4 weeks as compared to that of artificial tears but at 8 weeks and 12 weeks, there was no significant difference between artificial tears group and fluoromethalone group. Serum Immunoglobulin E and tear Immunoglobulin E levels can be used to investigate the cases of chronic conjunctivitis as normalcy of tear Immunoglobulin E reasonably excludes local allergy. This enables the clinician to resort to tear replacement therapy rather thanprescribing steroids with accompanying side effects. However, there is no correlation of serum Immunoglobulin E with tear Immunoglobulin E

HLA Frequencies in Pakistani Population in comparison with Caucasian, oriental and Negroid population

The main objective of the study was to determine HLA-A, B, and DR frequencies in Pakistani population and their comparison with HLA frequencies reported for caucasian, oriental and negroid population. Material and methods: Five thousand prospective donors/recipients of renal/bone marrow transplant who had undergone HLA typing were included in the study. All subjects were of pure Pakistani origin. They included 1245 recipients [996 males, 249 females] and 3755 donors [2740 males, 1015 females]. The HLA antigens were tested with two stage NIH micro-lymphocytotoxicity assay by using Terasaki plates. Separated T and B lymphocytes were used for class I and Class II antigens detection. Relative antigen frequencies were determined and used to calculate the gene frequencies. The HLA class I antigens A2, A11, A24[9], A1, A26[10], A3, A28, A33[19], B51[5], B35, B8, B57[17], B60[40], B44[12], B7, B61[40] were the most commonly detected antigens for the HLA class I A and B subclasses. In case of HLA-DR, DR3, DR11[5], DR7, DR15[2] were the most frequently found antigens. These antigen frequencies were compared with the antigen frequencies reported for the Caucasians, Orientals and Negroid population. Comparison of common frequencies with other populations indicates that Pakistani population is nearer to Caucasians and Orientals

beta thalassaemia imported from the mediterranean to the subcontinent?

The study was conducted to determine the source of beta thalassaemia mutations in Pakistan with the help of tracing the HLA antigens and common mutations. A total of one hundred and fifty five subjects [n=155] were included in the study. It included fifty-four patients of thalassaemia major [n=54] and their one hundred and one [n=101] siblings. HLA typing by lymphocytotoxicity method was performed for HLA class I antigens. Retrospective analysis was carried out for common beta thalassaemia associated mutations. The most frequent HLA class I frequencies and beta thalassaemia mutations were compared with different populations of the world to establish genetic ancestry of our patients. Our analyses showed that HLA B35 was present in our thalassaemics in the highest frequency. The antigen frequency [af] of HLA-B35 was 0.37 in thalassaemics while it was 0.21 in normal population [p=0.004]. The af of HLA-B35 was 0.24 in siblings of thalassaemics [p=0.06] versus normal population. However, increased expression of HLA B35 has not been reported in a number of the thalassaemic populations studied for HLA antigen. The combined HLA class I frequencies for our population have the closest match with those found in Caucasian population of the Mediterranean region. The study of the mutations for beta thalassaemia shows the mutation Fr 8/9 [G+] to be present in the highest frequency in areas of northern Pakistan. The HLA and mutation analysis show a trend for this mutation to be Asian-Indian in origin. The other common beta thalassaemia mutation that is prevalent in Southern region of Pakistan is IVS-l-5 substantiated by HLA and mutation analysis studies. It is probably of Arabic decent, as it occurs along the seashore of old trade route extending from Yemen to Philippines. There is evidence that beta thalassaemia mutations arose denovo spontaneously in Pakistan and India and then spread within pedigrees. However there is a chance that IVI-l-5 mutation may have been imported from Arabic Peninsula. It will be interesting to study HLA frequencies / RFLPs of Sindhi and Baluch populations and compare them with seashore areas enroute