Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2013
College/Unit
School of Medicine
Department/Program/Center
Physiology, Pharmacology & Neuroscience
Abstract
Background
Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) trigger pronounced inflammation and fibrosis in the lungs of mice following administration via pharyngeal aspiration or inhalation. Human exposure to SWCNT in an occupational setting may occur in conjunction with infections and this could yield enhanced or suppressed responses to the offending agent. Here, we studied whether the sequential exposure to SWCNT via pharyngeal aspiration and infection of mice with the ubiquitous intracellular parasite Toxoplasma gondii would impact on the immune response of the host against the parasite.
Methods
C57BL/6 mice were pre-exposed by pharyngeal administration of SWCNT (80 + 80 μg/mouse) for two consecutive days followed by intravenous injection with either 1x103 or 1x104 green fluorescence protein and luciferase-expressing T. gondii tachyzoites. The dissemination of T. gondii was monitored by in vivobioluminescence imaging in real time for 7 days and by plaque formation. The inflammatory response was analysed in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid, and by assessment of morphological changes and immune responses in lung and spleen.
Results
There were no differences in parasite distribution between mice only inoculated with T. gondii or those mice pre-exposed for 2 days to SWCNT before parasite inoculum. Lung and spleen histology and inflammation markers in BAL fluid reflected the effects of SWCNT exposure and T. gondii injection, respectively. We also noted that CD11c positive dendritic cells but not F4/80 positive macrophages retained SWCNT in the lungs 9 days after pharyngeal aspiration. However, co-localization of T. gondii with CD11c or F4/80 positive cells could not be observed in lungs or spleen. Pre-exposure to SWCNT did not affect the splenocyte response to T. gondii.
Conclusions
Taken together, our data indicate that pre-exposure to SWCNT does not enhance or suppress the early immune response to T. gondii in mice.
Digital Commons Citation
Swedin, Loinda; Arrighi, Romanico; Anderson-Willman, Britta; Murray, Ashley; Chen, Yunying; Karlsson, Mikael C I; Georen, Susanna K.; Tkach, Alexey V.; Shvedova, Anna A.; Fadeel, Bengt; Barragan, Antonio; and Scheynius, Annika, "Pulmonary exposure to single-walled carbon nanotubes does not affect the early immune response against Toxoplasma gondii" (2013). Faculty & Staff Scholarship. 2673.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/faculty_publications/2673
Source Citation
Swedin, L., Arrighi, R., Andersson-Willman, B. et al. Pulmonary exposure to single-walled carbon nanotubes does not affect the early immune response against Toxoplasma gondii . Part Fibre Toxicol 9, 16 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1186/1743-8977-9-16
Comments
© 2012 Swedin et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.