Macrophage cell culture

Lycopene is also known to decrease the expression of HMG-CoA reductase in macrophage cell cultures, based on the results of a small clinical study where 60mg lycopene daily was found to decrease seram LDL cholesterol. Suppression of HMG-CoA reductase activity acts to retard cancer induction and slow cellular growth. " A main reason for this is that synthesis of the isoprenoid dolichol during G1 phase is crucial for cell surface expression of insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) receptors, and cells that caimot synthesize dolichol experience an effective deficiency of IGF-I activity. ... 

Other sorts of NO inhibitors are triterpenes, such as ursolic acid and 2-a-hydroxy ursolic acid and 2-a-hydroxy ursolic acid from Prunella vulgaris L., inhibit the production of NO by murine leukaemic monocyte macrophage cells, RAW 264.7, cultured in vitro. The IC50 values were 17 xM for ursolic acid and 27 jxM for 2-a-hydroxy ursolic (51). 

Hong CH, Sun KH, Jin O, Sun SK, Kyung AN, Sang KL. Evaluation of natural products on inhibition of inducible cyclooxygenase (COX-2) and nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) in cultured mouse macrophage cells. J Ethnopharmacol 2002 83 153-159. 

Silk fibers or monolayers of silk proteins have a number of potential biomedical applications. Biocompatibility tests have been carried out with scaffolds of fibers or solubilized silk proteins from the silkworm Bombyx mori (for review see Ref. [38]). Some biocompatibility problems have been reported, but this was probably due to contamination with residual sericin. More recent studies with well-defined silkworm silk fibers and films suggest that the core fibroin fibers show in vivo and in vivo biocompatibility that is comparable to other biomaterials, such as polyactic acid and collagen. Altmann et al. [39] showed that a silk-fiber matrix obtained from properly processed natural silkworm fibers is a suitable material for the attachment, expansion and differentiation of adult human progenitor bone marrow stromal cells. Also, the direct inflammatory potential of silkworm silk was studied using an in vitro system [40]. The authors claimed that their silk fibers were mostly immunologically inert in short and long term culture with murine macrophage cells. 

FIGURE 7.9 (See color insert) Peroxynitrite production by activated macrophages. Cells isolated from control (CTL) and toxicant (TOX)-treated animals were cultured overnight in the presence of IFNa + LPS. Phorbol myristate acetate was then added. Thirty minutes later, the cells were loaded with DHR 123. After 5 minutes incubation, the cells were rinsed and analyzed for fluorescence associated with peroxynitrite production by confocal microscopy. 

In this chapter, we will review studies on formulation variables affecting monocyte and macrophage targeting (e.g., size and number of vesicles), in vitro characterization in cell cultures, and in vivo immunomodulation and anti-inflammatory responses. 

---