Effects of age, sex and physical exercise on the phagocytic process of murine peritoneal macrophages

Abstract

Different stages of the phagocytic process, i.e. chemotaxis, ingestion of latex beads and superoxide anion production, were measured in peritoneal macrophages from young (12 +/- 2 weeks old) and old (60 +/- 2 weeks old) male and female BALB/C mice, which were subjected to an acute bout of exercise (swimming until exhaustion) or to a period of training exercise (90 min of swimming each day during 20 days). Sedentary male and female mice as well as young and old animals were used as sex and age controls. The results show that both acute and training exercise stimulate the phagocytic process of murine peritoneal macrophages. The macrophage functions from sedentary controls were lower in the old than in the young animals. The chemotaxis and ingestion capacities of macrophages were higher in the female young and old sedentary mice than in their male counterparts. After exercise, the stimulation of the phagocytic process was higher in old and female mice than in young and male animals. In addition, serum corticosterone levels were measured in order to investigate the relations between stress and macrophage activity. Old and female mice as well as animals subjected to exercise showed, in general, higher corticosterone levels than young, male and sedentary animals.

Phagocytosis of Apoptotic Cells by Macrophages From NOD Mice Is Reduced

“…Consistent with this, we observed enhanced phagocytic function in older mice. The observation that peritoneal macrophages from 12-week-old female NOD mice displayed a greater phagocytic efficiency than age-matched male mice is consistent with reported sex differences in macrophage function, indicating that the ingestion capacity of macrophages is higher in adult female mice (35,36). Nonetheless, the strain-, sex-, and age-based variability was minor when compared with the differences noted between peritoneal macrophages from Balb/c and NOD mice.…”

Developmental and hormonal regulation of progesterone receptor A-form expression in female mouse lung in vivo: interaction with glucocorticoid receptors

“…Unliganded PR is predominantly nuclear (Smith et al 1990) whereas unliganded GR resides entirely in the cytoplasm (Hache et al 1999). Lung is composed of multiple cell types (Amy et al 1977, Burri 1997) and our immunohistochemistry results show that in the presence of low levels of endogenous corticosterone (Ferrandez & De la Fuente 1999), PRA is localized predominantly in the nucleus of both alveolar and bronchial epithelia, whereas GR is distributed in either the nucleus of alveolar epithelium or cytoplasm of bronchial epithelium, suggesting that interaction between PRA and GR may differ in a cell type-specific manner. Additional studies will determine whether the interactions of PRA and GR are ligand-dependent using a cell fractionation procedure.…”

Alterações na produção de TNF-a e IL-10 no músculo esquelético de ratos com insuficiência cardíaca secundária a infarto do miocárdio: possível efeito antiinflamatório do treinamento aeróbio moderado.

“…In the same way, moderate intensity exercise training enhances immune function, whereas intense exercise training depresses the immune system (27,29). With regards to the influence of endurance training on the immune function, the results of animal experiments have shown an increase in phagocytic activity and in chemotaxis of peritoneal Ms, as well as of the proliferative response of T cells to mitogens (12,14,35,36). On the other hand, few studies have evaluated the immunomodulatory effect of exercise training on peritoneal M function, since activated Ms are important sources of pro-inflammatory factors.…”

“…Acute venous congestion could lead to altered gut permeability for bacteria, endotoxin, or both, and consequent translocation into circulation. Additionally, other studies with a smaller number of patients found a trend towards a cellular (monocyte) hypersensitivity to LPS in patients with stable CHF (14,38). In addition to that, increases in peritoneal M count and in the total number of cells in the post-MI CHF animal model suggest an important role of these cells in the presence of a possible chronic inflammatory condition, as well as the effectiveness of endurance training in restoring peritoneal M count, yielding values close to those presented by Sham-operated sedentary rats.…”

“…In the present study, enhancement of chemotaxis capacity by peritoneal Ms in response to the sensing of FMLP was reversed by moderate endurance training, reestablishing the values to levels near those found in the Sham-operated sedentary animals. Some studies (14,35,36) have shown an increase in the chemotaxis index induced by exercise training stress; however, it appears that the modulatory effect of exercise on the Ms is dependent on the parameter being measured, the timing, the intensity and duration of the effort, and the concentration and type of chemokines being utilized (40).…”