THE INFLUENCE OF ZINC ON THE THYMUS GLAND FUNCTIONING AS THE FACTOR OF NON-SPECIFIC IMMUNE DEFENSE OF THE ORGANISM

The article presents the results of experimental studies of the influence of zinc on the thymus gland functioning as the factor of non-specific immune defense of the organism. It has been determined that the development of the immune response is slowed down significantly in animals with thymus gland removal, because thymus gland is the central organ of the immune system and it products not only cytokines but also performs endocrine functions with the production of specific hormones, the amount of which may vary rhythmically. The aim of the study was to establish the rela-tionship between the development of zinc deficiency in the body of animals due to dietary intake with selective zinc exclusion, and the thymus gland mass, level of leu-kocytes, lymphocytes and the activity of zinc-dependent enzymes in the blood. Taking into account age-related changes in endocrine activity of animals, for the objective evaluation of the thymus gland function in the experiment white non-breeding male rats 3-4 months of age weighing 180-200 g were used, with the most active period of the gland function, which were kept on the zinc deficient diet according to G. Babenko's method. The analysis of the results shows the develop-ment of zinc deficiency in the body, that is set based on the research. The daily amount of zinc for diet consumed and the amount of zinc excreted were identified every 5 days within a month. At the same time, we determined the thymus gland mass, the number of leukocytes, lymphocytes and zinc-dependent enzymes. The received data indicate on the correlation between these parameters. It has been found out that the development of zinc deficiency in the body was accompanied by a gradual adequate decrease of the mass of the thymus gland and the content of leukocytes, lymphocytes and zinc-dependent enzymes activity. Experiments indicate that zinc is one of the ac-tive modulators of the cell-mediated immune response. The development of zinc deficiency causes a violation of the reaction of cellular and humoral immunity, which is closely related to the thymus gland function.