Effects of Dietary Fat Level on the Aging Process of the Fibroblast Cells and Immune Function in Rats of Different Ages

식이지방수준이 나이에 따른 흰쥐 섬유아세포의 노화과정 및 면역반응에 미치는 영향

To investigate the influence of age and dietary fat level on the immune function and the growing potential of the fibroblast cells, male rats of 2 month, 6 month and 30 month of age were fed either 6% or 30% fat diet for 16 weeks. The weight of thymus decreased linearly with increasing age. And this age-dependent degeneration of thymus was delayed in rats fed low fat diets. The blastogenesis of spleen lymphocytes to PHA, ConA, and PWM was decreased with increasing age, however, no effect of dietary fat level was observed. The age-related decline in ratios of PHA/ConA response may suggest that T suppressor cell activity increases with age. In cell culture system, lung fibroblast cells from 30M rats showed lower plating efficiency. longer doubling time. and shorter cumulative doubling potential than those from 2M or 6M animals. Also. the morphology of fibroblasts from 30M rats was tended to be rouned rather than flattened and more variable in size and being generally larger. wherease those from 2M and 6M rats were uniform in size and adhered tightly to the culture vessel in ordered arrays. Therefore fibroblast cell culture system tried in this study reflects the changes of cellular aging.