Activin A increases phagocytosis of Escherichia coli K1 by primary murine microglial cells activated by toll-like receptor agonists

  • Background: Bacterial meningitis is associated with high mortality and long-term neurological sequelae. Increasing the phagocytic activity of microglia could improve the resistance of the CNS against infections. We studied the influence of activin A, a member of the TGF-β family with known immunoregulatory and neuroprotective effects, on the functions of microglial cells in vitro. Methods: Primary murine microglial cells were treated with activin A (0.13 ng/ml–13 μg/ml) alone or in combination with agonists of TLR2, 4, and 9. Phagocytosis of Escherichia coli K1 as well as release of TNF-α, IL-6, CXCL1, and NO was assessed. Results: Activin A dose-dependently enhanced the phagocytosis of Escherichia coli K1 by microglial cells activated by agonists of TLR2, 4, and 9 without further increasing NO and proinflammatory cytokine release. Cell viability of microglial cells was not affected by activin A. Conclusions: Priming of microglial cells with activin A could increase the elimination of bacteria in bacterial CNS infections. This preventive strategy could improve the resistance of the brain to infections, particularly in elderly and immunocompromised patients.

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Author:Catharina Diesselberg, Sandra Ribes, Jana Seele, Annika Kaufmann, Sandra Redlich, Stephanie Bunkowski, Uwe-Karsten Hanisch, Uwe Michel, Roland Nau, Sandra Schütze
URN:urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-466054
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1186/s12974-018-1209-2
ISSN:1742-2094
Pubmed Id:https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29880000
Parent Title (English):Journal of neuroinflammation
Publisher:BioMed Central
Place of publication:London
Document Type:Article
Language:English
Year of Completion:2018
Date of first Publication:2018/06/07
Publishing Institution:Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg
Release Date:2018/06/14
Tag:Activin; Bacterial meningitis; CNS infection; E. coli; Innate immune system; Nitric oxide; Phagocytosis; Proinflammatory cytokines; TLR
Volume:15
Issue:1, Art. 175
Page Number:11
First Page:1
Last Page:11
Note:
Open Access: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
HeBIS-PPN:434442526
Institutes:keine Angabe Fachbereich / Extern
Dewey Decimal Classification:6 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften / 61 Medizin und Gesundheit / 610 Medizin und Gesundheit
Sammlungen:Universitätspublikationen
Licence (German):License LogoCreative Commons - Namensnennung 4.0