Effect of protein malnutrition on the immune system of normal rats treated with some immuno depressant drugs

ABSTRACT

The aim of the present work is to investigate the influence of protein malnutrition on the immuno-toxicological effect of cyclophosphamide [15mg/kg body weight /day for 5 days] and azathioprine [5mg/kg per day for 6 days] treatment on male rats. Two diet groups were used, each of 40 rats, a protein standard diet and a protein malnourished one. Protein malnutrition was induced by restricting the amount of casein in diet to 5% instead of 20% which is the approximate ideal concentration. Histopathology of spleen and thymus, body weight, organ weight and circulating immunoglobulin were chosen as parameters for this study. Histologically, the splenic haemopoeisis was reduced and was a loss in the follicular cells after cyclophosphamide and azathioprine treatment in the normal protein group. The tyniphoid follicles became more structurally disorganized and contained fewer cells in protein malnourished treated group. Thymuses from all treated groups revealed severe loss of lymphocyts but more depletion was obtained in malnourished rats after cyclophosphamide and azathioprine treatments. Significant decrease in circulating immunoglobulin, body weight and organ weight in treated groups was also noticed