TLRs and NODs mRNA expression pattern in healthy mouse eye

Abstract

Aims: To look for TLR and NOD mRNA expression in the healthy eye and in other immune privileged and non-immune privileged mouse organs. Methods: Semiquantitative RT-PCR was performed to look for TLR1-9 and NOD1 and NOD2 mRNA expressions in the whole eye, in the anterior (AP) and posterior (PP) portions of the eye, in corneal fibroblasts (CF) and in ovary, brain, testis, heart, lung, and spleen. Results: All the TLR mRNAs were expressed in the whole eye of Balb/c mice. NIH and C57BL/6 did not express TLR9 and TLR8, respectively. NIH expressed higher levels of TLR1, 2, 3, and 6 than the other strains. C57BL/6 expressed the lowest levels of all TLRs. TLR9, 5, and 4 were the less expressed in all strains. All TLRs were expressed in Balb/c PP and TLR1 was not expressed in AP. In NIH and Balb/c CF the majority of TLRs were overexpressed with LPS. In testis, expression of most TLRs was absent. Non-immune privileged organs expressed most of the TLRs. All the organs expressed NOD1 and NOD2. In PP NOD2 was not expressed. Conclusion: TLRs and NODs are expressed in the eye, and could have an important role in the innate immunity.

UropathogenicEscherichia coliBlock MyD88-Dependent and Activate MyD88-Independent Signaling Pathways in Rat Testicular Cells

“…However, isolated TM and testicular DC expressed TLR4 and 7-9, indicating different sensitivities in the assays. Therefore, the TLR expression profiles reported here are mostly in agreement with previous TLR studies investigating the total testis of rat and other species (17,31,32).…”

Testicular innate immune defense against bacteria

“…This indicates a strong capacity of recognizing double stranded viral RNA in the testis. These results are largely in agreement with TLR expression in total testis of other species as well as in rat (Nishimura & Naito, 2005;Rodriguez-Martinez et al, 2005;Palladino et al, 2007), even though we could barely detect TLR4 and TLR6 synthesis in rat Sertoli cell as previously reported for the mouse by Riccioli et al (Riccioli et al, 2006). The broad distribution of TLRs in the testicular cells indicates that they provide wide range detection of bacteria and viruses and play an important role in the innate immune system of the testis (Figure 1) (Girling & Hedger, 2007).…”

The involvement of the Toll-like receptor family in ovulation

“…TLR5 is expressed predominantly in human ovary, peripheral blood leukocytes, and prostate [26]. In mice, at least nine TLRs have been detected in the ovary of the three mouse strains (NIH, Balb/c and C57BL/6) [27]. Our lab has also reported the expression of TLRs 2, 4, 8 and 9 in mouse granulosa cells and cumulus cells [13].…”