Abstract
Phagocytosis of bacteria is an important process during early host defence. It has been directly observed only ex vivo or in vitro. Here, we report on the observation of phagocytosis under in vivo conditions by using intravital microscopy in the murine lung. Suspensions of fluorescently labelled Streptococcus pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa cells were each instilled intratracheally to anaesthetized mice. After thoracotomy, the alveolar surface was observed for 30 min. Alveolar phagocytes exhibiting ingested bacteria could be detected and counted. The highest numbers were found after the infection with P. aeruginosa. By using intravital microscopy, cellular host defence could be observed in living mice lungs. The initial phagocytic reaction crucially depends on the species of applied bacteria invading the lung.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Yin J, Michalick L, Tang C, Tabuchi A, Goldenberg N, Dan Q, Awwad K, Wang L, Erfinanda L, Nouailles-Kursar G, Witzenrath M, Vogelzang A, Lv L, Lee WL, Zhang H, Rotstein O, Kapus A, Szaszi K, Fleming I, Liedtke WB, Kuppe H, Kuebler WM. Role of transient receptor potential vanilloid 4 in neutrophil activation and acute lung injury. Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol 2015; in press
Whitsett, J.A., and T. Alenghat. 2015. Respiratory epithelial cells orchestrate pulmonary innate immunity. Nature Immunology 16: 27–35.
Sawa, T. 2014. The molecular mechanism of acute lung injury caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa: from bacterial pathogenesis to host response. Journal Intensive Care 18(2): 10.
Veith, N.T., T. Tschernig, B. Gutbier, M. Witzenrath, C. Meier, M. Menger, and M. Bischoff. 2014. Surfactant protein A mediates pulmonary clearance of Staphylococcus aureus. Respiratory Research 15: 85.
Tschernig, T., N.T. Veith, R. Schramm, M.W. Laschke, J. Roller, M. Rosenbruch, D. Theegarten, M. Bischoff, C. Meier, and M.D. Menger. 2013. Direct visualisation of microparticles in the living lung. Experimental and Toxicological Pathology 65: 883–6.
Roller, J., M.W. Laschke, T. Tschernig, R. Schramm, N.T. Veith, H. Thorlacius, and M.D. Menger. 2011. How to detect a dwarf: in vivo imaging of nanoparticles in the lung. Nanomedicine 7: 753–6.
Brinkmann, V., and A. Zychlinsky. 2007. Beneficial suicide: why neutrophils die to make NETs. Nature Reviews Microbiology 5: 577–82.
Veith, N.T., J. Hellberg, C. Beisswenger, M.W. Laschke, and T. Tschernig. 2013. The effects of tobacco smoke on alveolar macrophages—an in vivo mouse lung model for short-term smoking. Pneumologie 67: 223–7.
Schmiedl, A., T. Kerber-Momot, A. Munder, R. Pabst, and T. Tschernig. 2010. Bacterial distribution in lung parenchyma early after pulmonary infection with Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Cell and Tissue Research 342: 67–73.
Acknowledgments
The authors thank Ann Soether for the language editing.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Preu, L., Bischoff, M., Veith, N.T. et al. Initial Host Response to Bacteria in the Murine Lung Differs Between Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pneumoniae . Inflammation 39, 513–517 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10753-015-0274-2
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10753-015-0274-2