Sánchez-García Laura, Pérez-Torres Armando, Muñoz-Cruz Samira, Salaiza-Suazo Norma, Morales-Montor Jorge, Becker Ingeborg
Unidad de Investigación en Medicina Experimental, Centro de Medicina Tropical, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México 04510, Mexico.
Departamento de Biología Celular y Tisular, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México 04510, Mexico.
Pathogens. 2022 Mar 25;11(4):398. doi: 10.3390/pathogens11040398.
Mast cells (MCs) play a crucial role during infections, which is transmitted through the bite of an infected sand fly that injects saliva together with the parasite. Sand fly saliva is a complex fluid that modulates the host immune response. In addition, hormonal factors modulate the host immune response and alter susceptibility to infections. Thus, to assess the impact of male sex hormones on the mast-cell (MC) response to infections, we orchiectomized male mice, infected them with the parasite in the presence of sand fly salivary proteins, and analyzed the inflammatory response of MCs. Our results showed that the MC response to the parasite and vector salivary proteins differed between orchiectomized and sham-operated mice. In orchiectomized mice, MC showed a retarded activation pattern, associated with slower degranulation and weaker TNF-α, histamine, and tryptase staining in response to the infection with combined with vector-salivary proteins, as compared to sham mice. Furthermore, neutrophil infiltration was slower in orchiectomized mice, and numbers of infected macrophages and lesion sizes were smaller. Our results show that, during infection, male sex hormones modulate the mast-cell response against the parasite and salivary proteins of the sand fly vector, inducing an intense inflammatory response. Their absence in orchiectomized mice retards the inflammatory response, enabling better control of the infection and slower disease progression.
肥大细胞（MCs）在感染过程中发挥着关键作用，这种感染是通过受感染的白蛉叮咬传播的，白蛉在叮咬时会将唾液与寄生虫一同注入宿主体内。白蛉唾液是一种复杂的液体，可调节宿主的免疫反应。此外，激素因素也会调节宿主免疫反应并改变对感染的易感性。因此，为了评估雄性激素对肥大细胞（MC）感染反应的影响，我们对雄性小鼠进行了睾丸切除术，在存在白蛉唾液蛋白的情况下用寄生虫感染它们，并分析了肥大细胞的炎症反应。我们的结果表明，睾丸切除小鼠和假手术小鼠对寄生虫和媒介唾液蛋白的肥大细胞反应有所不同。与假手术小鼠相比，在睾丸切除小鼠中，肥大细胞表现出延迟的激活模式，伴随着脱颗粒较慢以及在感染并伴有媒介唾液蛋白时肿瘤坏死因子-α、组胺和类胰蛋白酶染色较弱。此外，睾丸切除小鼠的中性粒细胞浸润较慢，受感染巨噬细胞的数量和病变大小较小。我们的结果表明，在感染期间，雄性激素调节肥大细胞对寄生虫和白蛉媒介唾液蛋白的反应，引发强烈的炎症反应。在睾丸切除小鼠中缺乏雄性激素会延迟炎症反应，从而能够更好地控制感染并减缓疾病进展。
