001), as were the numbers of B cells expressing the CD80+ recepto

001), as were the numbers of B cells expressing the CD80+ receptor and monocytes expressing the activation marker NKR-P1A (Table 2). Of note, we also observed the marked expansion of dendritic cells (by 2.3-fold [P < 0.05]) in the MLNs of rats with cirrhosis. Thereafter, we explored the contribution of enteric bacteria to the activation of MLNs and circulating immune system cells. Although no episodes of bacterial translocation were detected in rats with cirrhosis or control rats (culture-negative MLNs), bacterial DNA was demonstrated in the MLNs of 15 of the 28 rats with cirrhosis (53.6%) (Table 3) and in no

control animals (P < 0.01). As illustrated in Fig. 1, there is a close association between the immune system alteration observed in the MLNs of rats with cirrhosis and the presence of bacterial U0126 chemical structure DNA fragments. Indeed, the numbers of activated Th cells, B cells, and monocytes in the MLNs of rats with cirrhosis without bacterial CpG motifs were similar to those observed in control rats. Accordingly, Stem Cell Compound Library cost levels of the proinflammatory cytokines TNFα and IL-6 were only elevated in the MLNs of rats with cirrhosis and bacterial DNA (Fig. 2). We went on to examine the relative contributions of liver/HLN and/or enteric bacterial driven-mesenteric inflammation to the activated immune system cells observed in the circulation of rats with cirrhosis. To this end, we

analyzed the activation status of immune cells in peripheral blood according to the presence of bacterial DNA in MLNs and in response to bowel decontamination with nonabsorbable antibiotics, as well as correlations among activated immune cells in the compartments studied. As shown in Fig. 1, the numbers of total and activated Th cells and monocytes in the peripheral blood of rats with cirrhosis without bacterial DNA in MLNs were significantly greater than in control animals, but similar to those observed in rats with cirrhosis with bacterial medchemexpress DNA. Bowel decontamination normalized the number and activation state of immune cells in the MLN, but did not affect immune cell subpopulations in peripheral

blood or HLN (Table 4). We did not detect fragments of bacterial DNA in the MLNs of any of the antibiotic-treated rats with cirrhosis. Indeed, the broad-spectrum nonabsorbable antibiotics abrogated the expansion of recently activated CD134+ and CD62L− Th cells, inflammatory monocytes, and dendritic cells in the MLNs of rats with cirrhosis, whose values were no longer significantly different from those found in control animals. In contrast, antibiotics lacked any significant effects on the distribution and activation status of immune cells in the HLNs and peripheral blood of rats with cirrhosis (Table 4). Notably, we observed direct correlation between the percentage of recently activated Th cells (r = 0.59, P < 0.01) and inflammatory monocytes (r = 0.64, P < 0.01) found in the blood and HLNs of individual rats with cirrhosis (Fig.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>