IngentaConnect The intriguing normal acute inflammatory response in mice lacking...

Authors: Moisan, É; Chiasson, S.; Girard, D.

Source: Clinical & Experimental Immunology, Volume 150, Number 1, October 2007 , pp. 158-168(11)

Abstract:

Summary

Neutrophils express only two intermediate filament proteins, vimentin and, to a lesser extent, lamin B. Lamin B mutant mice die shortly after birth; however, mice lacking vimentin (vim^−/−) develop and reproduce normally. Herein, we investigate for the first time the role of vimentin in general inflammation in vivo and in neutrophil functions ex vivo. Using the murine air pouch model, we show that the inflammatory response induced by lipopolysaccharide, interleukin-21 or carageenan is, intriguingly, uncompromised in vim^−/− mice and that neutrophil functions are not altered ex vivo. Our results suggest that vimentin is dispensable for the establishment of an acute inflammatory response in vivo. In addition, based on several criteria presented in this study, one has to accept the existence of a very complex compensatory mechanism to explain the intriguing normal inflammatory response in absence of vimentin.

Keywords: air pouch; inflammation; knockout mice; neutrophils; vimentin

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2249.2007.03460.x

You have access to the full text article on a website external to Ingentaconnect.

Please click here to view this article on InterScience.

You may be required to register and activate access on InterScience before you can obtain the full text. If you have any queries please contact onlinehelp@oxon.blackwellpublishing.com

The intriguing normal acute inflammatory response in mice lacking vimentin