Abstract
The cause of low natural killer (NK) cell activity in vitamin-A-deficient rats was investigated in the current study. Cytotoxicity correlated with the percentage of NK cells (3.2.3-positive cells) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC; r = 0.85) and spleen (r = 0.70). Lytic activity per NK cell did not differ between vitamin-A-deficient rats and controls in PBMC, whereas it did in spleen. Vitamin A deficiency did not impair the ability to produce interferon (IFN), increase lytic efficiency and expand the NK cell pool upon poly(I:C) stimulation in vivo. Nor was the in vitro activation by IFN-α/β or interleukin-2 affected. Thus, vitamin A is essential for maintaining basal NK cell number and activity, but not for NK cell activation.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 29-41 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| Journal | Natural Immunity |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| State | Published - 1994 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Immunology