Skip to main content
ARS Home » Plains Area » Grand Forks, North Dakota » Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center » Dietary Prevention of Obesity-related Disease Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #116809

Title: DIETARY BORON AND ERYTHRITOL AND ANTIGEN INJECTION INTERACT TO MODIFY BLOOD CONCENTRATIONS OF NK CELLS AND EXPRESSION OF CD45RC ON CD4 AND CD8A T CELLS IN RATS

Author
item Hunt, Curtiss
item Idso, Joseph

Submitted to: Journal of Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/10/2000
Publication Date: 3/7/2000
Citation: Hunt, C.D., Idso, J.P. 2001. Dietary boron and erythritol and antigen injection interact to modify blood concentrations of NK cells and expression of CD45RC on CD4 and CD8A T cells in rats [abstract]. The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology Journal. 15:A1090.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Findings from our laboratory indicate that physiologic amounts of dietary boron influences the response of the immune system to injected antigens. Identification of immune cell subpopulations most responsive to boron was pursued in a 2 x 2 factorially-arranged experiment with Sprague-Dawley male rats fed a boron low basal diet supplemented with boron at 0 (0B) or 2 (2B) mg/kg and a boron-binding biomolecule, erythritol (E; forms boro mono- or di-esters through the cis-diol on the furanoid ring), at 0 (0E) or 5 (5E) mg/kg. Blood was drawn immediately prior to (d 77) and 2 d after 0.30 mg injection of M. butyricum in the subplantar region of the right hindpaw of all rats to determine concentrations of activated natural killer cells (NKR-P1A+/CD3- in lymphocyte gate) (NK), total CD4 helper T cells (CD4+/CD3+) (tCD4), total CD8a suppressor T cells (CD8+/CD3+) (tCD8a), resting CD4 helper T cells (CD4+/CD45RC+) (reCD4), and resting CD8a suppressor T cells (CD8+/CD45RC+) (reCD8a). Neither tCD4 nor tCD8a was affected by the dietary treatments. However, a decrease in reCD4 after injection was diminished by dietary boron (0B: 1.71 to 0.71; 2B: 1.61 vs 0.99 million cells/mL) (p < 0.004). A decrease in reCD8a after injection was diminished by dietary boron (0B: 1.80 vs 0.68; 2B: 1.62 vs 0.87 million cells/mL; p < 0.02). NK also decreased after injection (0.23 vs 0.07 million cells/mL) with the largest decrease occurring in the OB group fed E (0.33 vs 0.08 million cells/mL) (p < 0.02). The findings suggest an immunological role for physiological amounts of dietary boron as it relates to the expression of CD45RC, a marker for activity status of T cells; this role for dietary boron is apparently influenced by dietary E.