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Updated: Apr 4, 2026
Isolation and In Vitro Culture of Murine and Human Alveolar Macrophages
Published on: April 20, 2018
Morphological and Functional Alterations of Alveolar Macrophages in a Murine Model of Chronic Inflammatory Lung
Julia Désirée Boehme1,2, Sabine Pietkiewicz3, Inna Lavrik3
1Infection Immunology Group, Institute of Medical Microbiology and Hospital Hygiene, Infection Control and Prevention, Otto-von-Guericke University, Leipziger Straße 44, 39120, Magdeburg, Germany. julia.boehme@helmholtz-hzi.de.
Purpose:
Chronic lung inflammation commonly induces a multitude of structural and functional adaptations within the lung tissue and airspaces. Yet the impact of a persistent inflammatory environment on alveolar macrophages is still incompletely understood. Here, we examined morphology and function of alveolar macrophages in a transgenic mouse model of chronic lung disease.
Methods:
Imaging flow cytometry, flow cytometry, and microscopic evaluation of alveolar macrophages isolated from healthy and inflamed lungs were performed. Gene expression of polarization markers was compared by quantitative real-time RT-PCR. The pro-inflammatory immune response of alveolar macrophages toward bacterial ligands was assessed in in vivo clodronate-liposome depletion studies.
Results:
Chronic lung inflammation is associated with a substantially altered, activated alveolar macrophage morphology, and blunted TNF-α response by these cells following stimulation with ligands derived from the respiratory pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae.
Conclusions:
These results demonstrate pleiotropic effects of pulmonary inflammation on alveolar macrophage phenotype and function and suggest a functional impairment of these cells during infection with airborne pathogens.
