Figure 7
CD11b+Gr1int cell-mediated prevention and treatment of eosinophilic airway inflammation in vivo. Mice were antigen sensitized by three daily consecutive intranasal treatments with ovalbumin (OVA) plus cholera toxin (CT) followed by 5 days of rest. CD11b+Gr1int cells were generated from bone marrow progenitor cells in the presence of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF; 10 ng ml−1) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS; 1 μg ml−1) and then adoptively transferred intratracheally (1 × 106 cells per mouse) into mice that had received OVA/CT. Control mice did not receive any cells. Mice were then challenged with aerosolized OVA daily for 7 days. Total and differential cell counts in the bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid (upper panel) were enumerated. Values are mean±s.e.m. *P<0.05 and **P<0.01. Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining (middle panel) of lung sections was performed. Lung infiltrates around bronchovascular bundles were of +5 grade in animals that did not receive CD11b+Gr1int cells and +1 grade in those that did. Interleukin-13 (IL-13) present in lung homogenates (lower panel) was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and presented as the mean value±s.e.m. *P<0.05.
