Effects of Roncoleukin on Measures of Immunity and the Anxious-Depressive State Induced by Chronic Social Stress in Male Mice

Abstract

Chronic social stress leads to the development of an anxious-depressive state in male mice, accompanied by impairments to cellular and humoral immunity. The aim of the present work was to study the influences of the immunostimulator Roncoleukin on different components of immunity and psychoemotional status in depressed male mice. Roncoleukin (5000 IU/kg, i.p.) and reference agent physiological saline were given to anxious-depressed male mice for two weeks on the background of relative tranquility. At this point, the cellular compositions of the thymus, spleen, and blood were studied. The effects of Roncoleukin on communicativeness, anxiety, and depressivity, as assessed in behavioral tests, were also investigated. Roncoleukin decreased thymocyte and splenocyte counts, though there was an increase in the number of blood leukocytes and an increase in the mass index of the thymus. Roncoleukin increased the proportion of CD4+8+ lymphocytes in the thymus, and also increased the proportions of CD8+ and CD3+25– cells in the spleen. Anxiogenic, stimulatory, and mild antidepressant effects were seen. Roncoleukin had little effect when used in the complex treatment of impaired immunity and psychoemotional disorders evoked by chronic social stress.