Polymer microbeads in immunology

Effects of marine β−1,3 glucan on immune reactions

“…This guarantees that only actively phagocytosing cells will internalize these inert particles (for review, see Ref. [26]). In both cases, we found a significant increase of number of phagocytosing peritoneal macrophages after all tested doses of Phycarine.…”

Transdifferentiation of mouse aortic smooth muscle cells to a macrophage-like state after cholesterol loading

“…To investigate whether cholesterol-loaded SMCs acquire functional aspects of macrophages, SMCs with or without cholesterol loading were incubated with 1-m latex beads as part of the protocol commonly used to study phagocytotic activity of leukocytes (24). As shown in Fig.…”

Comparison of immunological effects of commercially available β-glucans

“…In our study, we employed the synthetic microbeads based on 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate polymer, since they represent good experimental material for these types of the study. These microbeads are known for their minimal nonspecific adhesion to the cell membrane, thus limiting the false positivity [20]. Our data showed that 50% of the tested glucans had no stimulative activity even after the highest dose (800 µg).…”

“…Usually, the test of choice are the effects on phagocytosis, as if the glucan does not stimulate phagocytosis, it might have little effects on additional facets of the defense reactions. As in our previous comparative study, we employed synthetic hydroxyethyl methacrylate particles [16] known for minimal nonspecific adhesion to the membrane of phagocytosing cells [20]. We injected the mice with different doses of glucan and 24 hrs later tested the effects of glucans on phagocytic ability of peripheral blood neutrophils.…”