Effect of melatonin on monochromatic light-induced T-lymphocyte proliferation in the thymus of chickens

A total of 360 post-hatching day 0 (P0) Arbor Acre male broilers, including intact, sham operation and pinealectomy groups, were exposed to white light (WL), red light (RL), green light (GL) and blue light (BL) from a light-emitting diode (LED) system until for P14. We studied the effects of melatonin and its receptors on monochromatic light-induced T-lymphocyte proliferation in the thymus of broilers. The density of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) cells and the proliferation of T-lymphocytes in response to Concanavalin A (ConA) in GL significantly increased both in vivo and in vitro (from 9.57% to 32.03% and from 34.30% to 50.53%, respectively) compared with other lights (p < 0.005) and was strongly correlated with melatonin levels in plasma (p < 0.005). Pinealectomy reduced the levels of circulatory melatonin and the proliferation of T-lymphocytes and eliminated the differences between GL and other lights (p < 0.005). However, exogenous melatonin (10− 9 M) significantly increased the proliferative activity of T-lymphocyte by 9.64% (p = 0.002). In addition, GL significantly increased mRNA expression levels of Mel1a, Mel1b and Mel1c receptors from 21.09% to 32.57%, and protein expression levels from 24.43% to 42.92% compared with RL (p < 0.05). However, these effects were blocked after pinealectomy. Furthermore, 4P-PDOT (a selective Mel1b antagonist) and prazosin (a selective Mel1c antagonist) attenuated GL-induced T-lymphocyte proliferation in response to ConA (p = 0.000). Luzindole (a nonselective Mel1a/Mel1b antagonist), however, did not induce these effects (p = 0.334). These results suggest that melatonin may mediate GL-induced T-lymphocyte proliferation via the Mel1b and Mel1c receptors but not via the Mel1a receptor.