Effect of Arsenic Trioxide with Various Concentrations on Dendritic Cells in the Conducting Airways of Asthmatic Mice

摘要

Objective: To investigate the effect of arsenic trioxide(As_2O_3) with three different concentration groups on the distribution and recruitment of dendritic cells (DCs) in the conducting airways of asthmatic mice. Methods: Fifty BALB/c mice were divided into 5 groups at random: control group, asthmatic group, therapeutic groups with low dose(1 mg/kg), moderate dose(5 mg/kg) and high dose (10 mg/kg) of As_2 O_3. The immunohistochemistry. scanning electron microscope and computerized image analysis were appljed to detect airway DCs, respectively. Results: We demonstrated from the control mice that all intraepithelial NLDC-145~+ DCs throughout the respiratory tree could be accounted for a network of cells with dendritic cell morphology, and the density of DCs varied from(500 +- 50)cells/mm~2 epithelial surface in the large airways, to (60 +- 10) cells/mm~2 epithelial surface in the small airways (P < 0.05). The DCs characteristic of spiny and long processes were impressively observed by the scanning electron microscope. Compared with the control mice, the density, but not the distribution of NLDC-145~+ DCs was significantly upregulated in the conducting airways of asthmatic mice(P < 0.01). Compared with the asthmatic mice, the densities, but not the distributions of NLDC-145~+ DCs were significantly down regulated in the conducting airways of the therapeutic groups with three varying concentrations of As_2O_3(.P< 0.01) while there were no statistical differences between each other (P>0.05). Conclusion: Our findings suggest that it might be an important therapeutic mechanism of As_2O_3, to downregulate not the distribution but the density of DCs in the conducting airways of asthmatic mice, and low dose of As_2O_3 has potential value in treating asthma.