Kinetics of the phenotype and function of murine peritoneal macrophages following acute inflammation.

This study was undertaken to have a better understanding for the process and the underlying mechanisms to limit macrophage activation and population of activated macrophages. A comprehensive kinetics of cytokine production was performed in murine peritoneal macrophages recovered from Balb/c mice at various time during the course of an intraperitoneal injection with thioglycollate (TG). The expression of cell surface molecules such as MHC-I, MHC-II, B7-1 and B7-2 of these macrophages were also determined by flow cytometry. The present findings of our research suggested that the population of activated macrophages and the activation of macrophages (including cytokines production and expression of cell surface functional molecules) were strictly controlled during inflammation process. This is one of the important mechanisms to retain the host homeostasis.