2019 Volume 2 Issue 4 Pages 39-47
Thymic involution-associated disfunction of thymus is implicated in aging, microbial infection, pregnancy, improper nutrition, and etc., therefore it is clinically important especially in aged societies. Excess administration of estradiol to male mice is known to induce thymic involution and used as a mouse model of thymic involution, whereas the mechanisms of which have not been well understood. Here we examined the role of prostanoids in the estradiol-induced thymic involution in mice. The administration of 17β-estradiol for 7 consecutive days induced thymic involution. In the involute thymus, the expression of mRNAs for some synthetic enzymes of prostanoids, including Ptgs1, Ptgs2, Ptgds, Hpgds, Ptges1, and Tbxas, are upregulated. In order to examine the roles of prostanoids in the thymic involution, we treated the mice with an NSAID, etodolac, following 17β-estradiol-administration. The etodolac-treatment partially inhibited the estradiol-induced reduction of thymic size and disorganization of the boundary between thymic cortex and medulla, as indicated by keratin 5 expression as well as by localization of innate immune cells. CD34-positive thymic progenitor cells localized near the blood vessels in the estradiol-administered thymus, although they were more dispersed by the etodolac-treatment. The association of CD34-positive cells with blood vessels is known to be mediated by E- and P-selectins, whose expressions were also regulated by estradiol-administration in an etodolac-sensitive manner. These results indicated the role of prostanoids in the histological change of thymus during estradiol-induced thymic involution.
