Dexamethasone (DEXA) is a potent corticosteroid, commonly used for treating inflammatory, hypersensitive and allergic conditions. It is administered to birds with tumours. Many studies were conducted on its immunosuppressive effects; however none of the similar study is available employing chicken splenocytes culture system. The present study was conducted to assess DEXA induced alterations in inflammatory and oxidative stress biomarkers in chicken splenocytes due to its in vitro exposure. The maximum non-cytotoxic dose (MNCD) was evaluated and was further used for conducting lymphocytes proliferation assay (LPA), antioxidant assays (lipid peroxidation, GSH, superoxide dismutase and nitric oxide assays) and assessment of mRNA levels of various genes (IL-1β, IL-6, IL-10, LITAF, iNOS, NF-κB1, Nrf-2, Caspase-3 and -9) through qPCR. The MNCD was determined to be 30 ng/ml in chicken splenocytes culture system. DEXA caused reduction in B and T lymphocytes proliferation indicating its immunosuppressive effects, however improved the antioxidant status of the exposed splenocytes. The expression levels of IL-1β, IL-6, iNOS, LITAF and NF-κB1 were significantly reduced while IL-10 was enhanced, which signify potent anti-inflammatory potential of DEXA. NF-κB is a major transcription factor that regulates genes responsible for both, innate and adaptive immune responses and elicits inflammation. The nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf-2) level was found to be up-regulated. Nrf-2 plays important role in combating the oxidant stress and its increased expression could be the reason of improved antioxidant status of DEXA exposed cells. Present findings indicated that DEXA exhibited modulation in anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory and antioxidant mediators in chicken splenocytes.

地塞米松 (DEXA) 是一种强效皮质类固醇，通常用于治疗炎症、过敏和过敏性疾病。它用于患有肿瘤的鸟类。对其免疫抑制作用进行了许多研究；然而，还没有使用鸡脾细胞培养系统进行类似的研究。本研究旨在评估 DEXA 由于体外暴露而引起的鸡脾细胞炎症和氧化应激生物标志物的变化。评估了最大非细胞毒性剂量 (MNCD)，并进一步用于进行淋巴细胞增殖测定 (LPA)、抗氧化剂测定（脂质过氧化、谷胱甘肽、超氧化物歧化酶和一氧化氮测定）以及各种基因 mRNA 水平的评估（IL- 1β、IL-6、IL-10、LITAF、iNOS、NF-κB1、Nrf-2、Caspase-3 和 -9）通过 qPCR。鸡脾细胞培养系统中的 MNCD 测定为 30 ng/ml。DEXA 导致 B 和 T 淋巴细胞增殖减少，表明其免疫抑制作用，但改善了暴露的脾细胞的抗氧化状态。IL-1β、IL-6、iNOS、LITAF 和 NF-κB1 的表达水平显着降低，而 IL-10 的表达水平增强，这表明 DEXA 具有强大的抗炎潜力。NF-κB 是一种主要转录因子，可调节负责先天性和适应性免疫反应并引发炎症的基因。核因子红细胞 2 相关因子 2 (Nrf-2) 水平被发现上调。Nrf-2 在对抗氧化应激中发挥重要作用，其表达增加可能是 DEXA 暴露细胞抗氧化状态改善的原因。目前的研究结果表明，DEXA 对鸡脾细胞的抗炎、免疫调节和抗氧化介质具有调节作用。