The Influence of Age on Blood Alcohol Levels and Ethanol‐Associated Immunosuppression in a Murine Model of Ethanol Consumption

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Abstract
Several study findings indicate that with ethanol ingestion a number of changes occur in the immune system. We studied the effects of ethanol consumption on mice at various ages. We used a murine model in which young (age 6‐8 weeks), middle‐aged (age 12 months), and old (age 24 months) male C57B1/6 mice were pair‐fed either a Leiber‐DeCarli liquid diet containing 7% (v/v) ethanol or an isocaloric control diet. Consumption of ethanol diet for 8 days resulted in high blood alcohol levels in young and old mice; low levels were observed in middle‐aged mice. Middle‐aged mice consumed more ethanol than did either young or old mice and had the lowest percent body weight loss of all three age groups. Proliferation of spleen lymphocytes to T‐cell stimuli (concanavalin A and alloantigens) in both young and old mice fed ethanol was diminished. T‐cell function was unchanged in middle‐aged mice consuming an ethanol diet when compared with that observed in age‐matched mice pairfed control diet. No effect of ethanol on proliferation to lipopolysaccharide was noted in any group. Proliferative response of T cells to soluble anti‐CD3 monoclonal antibody was also decreased in middleaged and old pair‐fed control mice when compared with young control mice. The proliferative response to soluble anti‐CD3 in all three age groups of mice fed ethanol, however, was not significantly affected by ethanol consumption. When platebound anti‐CD3 was used to stimulate purified T cells obtained from young and middleaged pair‐fed control and ethanol‐treated mice, the proliferative response associated with ethanol was diminished in young animals but not in middle‐aged animals. These results show that the immunosuppressive effects of ethanol on T‐cell function are similar in old and young mice; however, middle‐aged animals were affected less. An important finding of this study was the association between blood alcohol levels and the immunosuppression that resulted from ethanol feeding.