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Effects of 2-acetyl-4-tetrahydroxybutyl imidazole (THI) on the thymus of rats.

2-Acetyl-4-tetrahydroxybutyl imidazole (THI), a component of the food colouring ammonia caramel, has been shown to produce suppression of cell-mediated immunity and a reduction in circulating TH and TC/S lymphocytes in rats. Accordingly in this study the effects of THI on the thymus has been investigated. THI (1 mg/kg/day) was given for up to 7 days in the drinking water to Fischer 344 rats on a vitamin B6 deficient diet. No marked change in thymus weight was found but the cellularity was marginally decreased and flow cytometric analysis of the lymphocyte subsets revealed an increase in the number of CD4+CD8- and CD4-CD8+ single positive (SP) cells and a reduction in the number of CD4+CD8+ double positive (DP) thymocytes. This reduction was in agreement with histological findings of increased numbers of pyknotic cells in the cortex, mainly engulfed by macrophages. Mitogen-induced proliferation of thymocytes prepared from THI-treated animals was increased, concordant with the gradual increase in the percentage of mature SP cells. No change in normal proliferation of thymocytes cultured in vitro, or, in proliferation in vivo, detected as 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine (BrdU) incorporation, was found. It is concluded that THI produced an increase in death of immature DP cells. However, THI did not affect thymocyte proliferation or their differentiation into mature SP cells in the thymus, but rather impairs their migration into the circulation. The mechanism of action of THI appears to be indirect, but THI does not act through increasing the release of adrenal corticosteroids to supra-physiological levels as the same histopathological changes in the thymus were found in adrenalectomized rats.