Preliminary studies of the effects of psychological stress on circulating lymphocytes analyzed by synchrotron radiation based-Fourier transform infrared microspectroscopy

• Biochemical changes by psychological stress in lymphocytes investigated by vibrational spectroscopy at single cell level.
• The results showed an increased absorption at lipid peroxidation region in lymphocytes from stressed rats.
• Changes in peak position and absorbance in nucleic acids were observed suggesting reduction of transcriptional activity.
• Results unravel part of the mechanisms by which psychological stress affects immune system with systemic consequences.

Psychological stress is a condition that not only generates behavioral disorders but also disrupts homeostasis and immune activity that can exacerbate or lead to inflammatory diseases. The aim of this work was to study biochemical changes in circulating immune cells from rats under psychological stress by using vibrational spectroscopy. A stress model was used, where exposure to a stressor was repeated for 5 days. Subsequently, circulating lymphocytes were examined for their biomolecular vibrational fingerprints with synchrotron radiation based-Fourier transform infrared microspectroscopy. The results showed an increased absorption at the ester lipid region (1720–1755 cm−1) in lymphocytes from stressed rats, suggesting lipid peroxidation. Statistical significant changes in wavenumber peak position and absorbance in the nucleic acid region were also observed (915–950 cm−1 Z-DNA, 1090–1150 cm−1 symmetric stretching of POC, 1200–1260 cm−1 asymmetric PO2 and 1570–1510 cm−1 methylated nucleotides) which suggest a reduction of transcriptional activity in lymphocytes from stressed rat. These results unravel part of the mechanisms by which psychological stress may affect the immune system leading to systemic consequences.

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