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J.V. Neves et al.
Figure 5. Inflammatory cytokine profile in C57BL/6 and Hamp-/- mice infected with T.b. brucei. 1, 4, 7, 14 and 21 days post infection, blood was collected and serum was obtained to measure (A) IL-6, (B) IFN-g, (C) TNF-a, (D) IL-10, and (E) MCP1 circulating levels, using a Cytometric Bead Array (CBA) Mouse Inflammation Kit. Values are represented as mean±standard deviation (n=5). Differences among groups were considered significant at P<0.05, P<0.01, and P<0.001, represented respec- tively by the letters a, b, c between control and infected C57BL/6 mice, d, e, f between control and infected Hamp-/- mice, g, h, i between infected groups and j, k, l between control groups.
Circulating cytokine levels in both C57BL/6 and Hamp-/- mice were mostly comparable to BALB/c. IL-6 levels increased as early as day 1 post infection and remained high up to day 7 or day 14 (in C57BL/6 and Hamp-/-) with a subsequent gradual recovery to control levels (Figure 5A). Circulating levels of IFN-g, TNF-a and IL-10 (Figure 5B-D) also followed similar patterns, with an increase up to day 4 followed by a decrease. Additionally, high levels of MCP1 were observed as early as day 1 post infection, reaching maximum levels at day 4 and rapidly decreasing to normal levels at day 7 post infection (Figure 5E).
Gene expression was also evaluated in the liver, spleen
and kidney. Hepcidin and ferroportin liver expression profiles in C57BL/6 mice were similar to what was observed for BALB/c, with an increase of hepcidin up to day 7 followed by a decrease to lower than normal lev- els, and with ferroportin mirroring hepcidin (Figure 6A and B), coinciding with the early onset of anemia and the subsequent recovery. No discernible hepcidin expression was observed in the liver of Hamp-/- animals, and the increase in ferroportin expression was maintained throughout the duration of the experiment (Figure 6A and B). In the spleen, an increase in Hbb (Figure 6C) and Twsg1 (Figure 6E) was observed in both wild-type and
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