Abstract
Cigarette smoke (CS) exposure is associated with increased autophagy in several cell types, such as bronchial epithelial cells. Smoking is also an environmental risk factor in Crohn’s disease, in which impairment of the autophagy-mediated anti-bacterial pathway has been implicated. So far, it is unknown whether CS induces autophagy in the gut. Here, we examined the effect of chronic CS exposure on autophagy in the follicle-associated epithelium (FAE) of murine Peyer’s patches. Transmission electron microscopy revealed that the proportion of cell area occupied by autophagic vesicles significantly increased in the FAE after CS exposure. An increased number of autophagic vesicles was observed in the FAE, whereas the vesicle size remained unaltered. Besides enterocytes, also M-cells contain more autophagic vesicles upon CS exposure. In addition, the mRNA level of the autophagy-related protein Atg7 in the underlying Peyer’s patches is increased after CS exposure, which indicates that the autophagy-inducing effect of CS is not limited to the FAE. In conclusion, our results demonstrate that CS exposure induces autophagy in murine FAE and in the underlying immune cells of Peyer’s patches, suggesting that CS exposure increases the risk for Crohn’s disease by causing epithelial oxidative damage, which needs to be repaired by autophagy.
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Acknowledgments
We are grateful to Barbara Gilbert for providing help with the Western blot technique for LC3. We thank Dorothea van Limbergen and Ran Rumes for the processing of the samples for electron microscopy, and Katrien De Visschere, Isabelle Rottiers, Eliane Castrique, Christelle Snauwaert, Marie-Rose Mouton, Katleen De Saedeleer, Anouk Goethals, Ann Neesen, Indra De Borle, Greet Barbier en Evelien Spruyt for the excellent technical support. Funding was provided by the Special Research Fund of Ghent University (01J17507) and Concerted Research Action of Ghent University (BOF 10/GOA/021). Stephanie Verschuere is supported by a doctoral Grant from the Special Research Fund of Ghent University (01D21009). Ken Bracke is a postdoctoral researcher of the Fund for Scientific Research (FWO) in Flanders.
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G. G. G. Brusselle, C. A. Cuvelier equally contributed to this paper.
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Verschuere, S., Allais, L., Bracke, K.R. et al. Cigarette smoke and the terminal ileum: increased autophagy in murine follicle-associated epithelium and Peyer’s patches. Histochem Cell Biol 137, 293–301 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00418-011-0902-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00418-011-0902-3