The Influence of Age and Sex on the Cell Counts of Peripheral Blood Leukocyte Subpopulations in Chinese Rhesus Macaques

• Published in: Cellular & molecular immunology Vol. 6; no. 6; pp. 433 - 440
• Main Authors: Xia, Hou-Jun, Zhang, Gao-Hong, Wang, Rui-Rui, Zheng, Yong-Tang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01.12.2009; Nature Publishing Group; G%Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms of the Chinese Academy of Sciences & Yunnan Province,Kunming Institute of Zoology,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Kunming,Yunnan 650223,China; Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms of the Chinese Academy of Sciences & Yunnan Province,Kunming Institute of Zoology,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Kunming,Yunnan 650223,China
• Subjects: Age; Aging - immunology; Animal models; Animals; Antibodies; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; CD3 antigen; CD4 antigen; CD8 antigen; Dendritic cells; Female; Flow cytometry; Immunology; Leukocyte Count; Leukocytes - immunology; Lymphocytes; Lymphocytes B; Lymphocytes T; Macaca mulatta; Macaca mulatta - immunology; Male; Medical Microbiology; Microbiology; Monocytes; Original; original-article; Peripheral blood; Primates; Sex Characteristics; Vaccine; Chinese rhesus macaque; leukocyte subpopulation; absolute count; age; sex
• ISSN: 1672-7681; 2042-0226
• DOI: 10.1038/cmi.2009.55

Non-human primates such as Chinese rhesus macaques are the favorable models for preclinical study of potential therapeutic drugs, vaccines and mechanisms of human diseases. Little is known about the normal levels of leukocyte subpopulations of Chinese rhesus macaques. To obtain these data, 100 blood samples from Chinese rhesus macaques were collected. The normal range of major leukocyte subpopulations, such as T lymphocytes, B lymphocytes, monocytes, myeloid dendritic cells (mDCs) and plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs), were quantitatively analyzed by flow cytometry through BD trucount tubes. The influence of age and sex on the cell counts of leukocyte subpopulations was analyzed. The counts of CD3 + T cells, CD3 + CD4 + T cells, CD3 + CD8 + T cells and B cells decreased with age, but those of monocytes, mDCs and pDCs had no significant correlation with age. Significant differences existed in the cell counts of most leukocyte subpopulations between the male and female groups except pDCs. Furthermore the values of the females were higher than those of the males. The study provided basic information about the leukocyte subpopulations of Chinese rhesus macaques, and it may be valuable for immunobiological study of Chinese rhesus macaques.