Immunology Of Aging: The Natural Aging Of The Immune System Changes And Oxidative Stress On The Immune System

It is common knowledge that the aging process is accompanied by corresponding aging of the immune system and increase of reactive oxygen species(ROS). Among different theories of aging, oxidative stress hypothesis or immunological mechanism theory displayed important role in aging research. Although cells possess an elaborate network of oxidative defenses, such defenses are not totally efficient in some cases such as excessive formation of ROSs or decline in repairment capacity to these damages. So a small fraction of pro-oxidants escape elimination and inflict biomolecular damage. Such damages (e.g. membrane lipid peroxidation, oxidative DNA damage, -SH oxidation of protein etc.) are irreversible, thereby progressively accumulating with age and making body senescence. For the immunological mechanism of aging, it is believed that immune system be involved in aging process and play a regulating role in senescence. During aging, decreased specific or nonspecific immune functions have been extensively reviewed. Thymus, the organ responsible for maturation of T cells, develops up until puberty and then rapidly tends to atrophy. All of these cellular or molecular deteriorative changes make the immune system impossible to actively perform the immune surveillance by efficient immune response. At present, lots of knowledge on the changes of immune system with aging has accumulated, but little is known on the mechanical study of immune degeneration. Some works have suggested immune system be affected by ROSs. Is ROS the inducer of immunosenescence? What changes have taken place in the body under oxidative stress? How about the relationship between oxidative stress hypothesis and immunological mechanism of aging? This is what we want to probe in this study.Currently, the effect of oxidative stress on immune system has not been studied popularly, especially in vivo. To evaluate the exact biological effects of ROS and probe the immunological mechanism of aging, we designed and performed the experiments as follows:1. The structural and functional changes of immune system in Balb/Cmice during aging In order to gain more insight into immunological mechanism of aging,...