Efecto de la Melatonina en la Proliferación Linfocitaria y la Producción de Interleucina 2 (IL-2) e Interleucina 1 Beta (IL-1b) en Esplenocitos de Ratones

the influence of melatonin (mlt) on the modulation of the immune system has been described. in previous studies an increment of cell proliferation and an increase or a decrease of cytokines have been reported. other workers have found inhibitory effects or no effect in the immune functions. because of this controversy, and for the purpose of studying the mechanism by which mlt performs its functions, we evaluated its effect on murine splenocytes′s proliferation after a mitogenic stimulation. and quantified the levels of il-2 and il-1 b in the absence or presence of phitohemaglutinin (pha) in supernatants of mice splenocytes cell culture treated or not with mlt. the lymphoproliferative response was assessed using tritiated thimidine in the splenocytes of mice treated with 500 μg of mlt/kg b.w. and in cell cultures containing 5, 50 and 100 μg mlt/ml. the production of il-2 and il-1 b was detected by the elisa test. an increase in the proliferation (p< 0.01) of spleen cells treated with 50 and 100 μg mlt/ml an optimal dose of pha, was detected. the in vivo or in vitro treatment with mlt increased the levels of il-2 and il-1b in the absence or the presence of pha, maintaining the increase in the concentration of il-1b up to the to ninth day of treatment. these results suggest that mlt acts directly on cell proliferation probably by binding to high affinity receptors located on spleen cells, that stimulates the production of il-2 and il-1b giving rise to an increment of cell immunity.