Murine immune response induced by Leishmania major during the implantation of paraffin tablets.
We carried out a model of chronic inflammation using a subcutaneous paraffin tablet in mice experimentally infected with Leishmania major. It was previously reported that the parasite load following paraffin implantation occurred at a peak of 21 days in both BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice. At the present study, we have investigated what cytokines and chemokines are directly related to the parasite load in C57BL/6 mice. All mice were divided in four groups: mice implanted with paraffin tablets; mice experimentally infected with L. major; mice implanted with paraffin tablets and experimentally infected with L. major; and mice submitted only to the surgery were used for the Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) controls. Fragments of skin tissue and the tissue surrounding the paraffin tablets (inflammatory capsule) were collected for histopathology and RT-PCR studies. By 21 days, a diffuse chronic inflammatory reaction was mainly observed in the deep dermis where macrophages parasitized with Leishmania amastigotes were also found. RT-PCR analysis has shown that BALB/c mice showed strong IL-4 and IL-10 mRNA expression than controls with very little expression of IFN-γ. In contrast, both IFN-γ and IL-10 mRNA was found in higher levels in C57BL/6 animals. Moreover, in C57BL/6 mice the expression of chemokines mRNA of CCL3/MIP-1α was more highly expressed than CCL2/MCP-1. We conclude that the Th1 immune response C57BL/6 did not change to a Th2 response, even though C57BL/6 animals presented higher parasitism than BALB/c mice 21 days after infection and paraffin implantation.
Reis
Maria Letícia Costa
ML
Departamento de Patologia Geral, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil. marialeticia@ufmg.br
Ferreira
Vanessa Martins
VM
Zhang
Xia
X
Gonçalves
Ricardo
R
Vieira
Leda Quércia
LQ
Tafuri
Washington Luiz
WL
Mosser
David M
DM
Tafuri
Wagner Luiz
WL
D000818:Animals; D018925:Chemokines / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000276:immunology; D016207:Cytokines / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000276:immunology; D018320:Leishmania major / Q000276:immunology; D016773:Leishmaniasis, Cutaneous / Q000276:immunology* / Q000469:parasitology; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D010232:Paraffin; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013607:Tablets
D018925:Chemokines; D016207:Cytokines; D013607:Tablets; D010232:Paraffin