Role of Low Dosage Arsenic Trioxide on Pulmonary Dendritic Cells in Asthmatic Mice

摘要

Objective: To investigate the distribution and recruitment of pulmonary dendritic cells (DCs) and the influence of low dosage arsenic trioxide (As_2O_3) on them in the airway of asthmatic mice. Methods: Thirty BALB/c mice were randomly divided into 3 groups: the control group, the asthmatic group and the As_2O_3 treated group. The mice asthmatic model was induced via sensitizing with peritoneal injection of ovalbumin (OVA) for two times and then provocated with aerosol inhalation of OVA for a week. The treated group was peritoneally injected with 0.2 ml solution of As_2O_3 (4mg/kg) 0.5h after each provocation. The immunohistochemistry and computerised image analysis were applied to detect quantitatively the DCs in the lung and airway of mice. Results: All intraepithelial nonlymphoid dendritic cells-145 (NLDC-145) throughout the respiratory tree in the mice of the control group formed a network with the density of DCs varying from (575+-54) cells/mm~2 epithelial surface in the large airway, to (68+-l2) cells/ mm~2 epithelial surface in the small airway. The distribution of airway NLDC-145~+ in the asthmatic group was similar to that in the control group, but its density was significantly upregulated (P<0.01) . The distribution of airway NLDC-145 in the treated group was similar to that in the asthmatic group, only its density was significantly downregulated (P<0.01). Conclusion: There is an integral network of NLDC-145~+ throughout the respiratory tree. To downregulate the density but not change the distribution of pulmonary DCs could be an important therapeutic mechanism of low dosage As_2O_3 in treating asthma.