The Impact of Aspergillus fumigatus Viability and Sensitization to Its Allergens on the Murine Allergic Asthma Phenotype
Figure 4
Effect of inhaled dead or live A. fumigatus conidia on pulmonary inflammation in non-sensitized mice. Peribronchovascular inflammation observed on hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) stained lung sections peaked at day 3, for mice challenged with dead (a) or live (b) A. fumigatus conidia, is depicted here. BALF samples from naïve mice or mice challenged with dead or live A. fumigatus conidia were cytospun and stained with Quick Dip stain to aid in the analysis of differential cell types based on their morphology and staining pattern. Monocytes/macrophages (c), neutrophils (d), eosinophils (g), and lymphocytes (h) were enumerated for each group at days 3, 7, and 28 after third fungal challenge. Counts from naïve mice are represented by a dashed line (c, d, g, and h). The percentages indicated on the bars in (c), (d), (g), and (h) represent the cells quantified as % of total cells. At day 3, significant differences in the number of granulocytes were observed in the mice challenged with dead (e) or live (f) conidia. Additionally, macrophages (shown in the inset) from the two groups appeared morphologically different. The differences in the size of the insets indicate differences in size of the macrophages shown in the insets. Macrophages from dead conidia-challenged mice had numerous greenish spherical objects, presumably conidia, inside them (e inset), and these were rarely observed in the macrophages from live conidia-challenged group (f inset). Bars represent mean ± SEM, mice/group. *, #, value < 0.05, as compared with naïve mice or mice challenged with dead conidia, respectively. Scale bars = 100 μm (a, b), 20 μm (e, f), and 10 μm (e, f insets).
