Influence of age on the production of interleukin-8-like chemokine (GRO/CINC-1) in rat nasal mucosa.

The ability of the nasal mucosa to produce various cytokines has been shown to correlate closely with the capacity to regulate an inflammatory condition in the nasal cavity. Immune senescence is characterized by a dysregulation of the immune system. This change is reflected by the altered production of cytokines during aging. We measured the in vivo production and gene expression of IL-8-like cytokines (GRO/CINC-1) in nasal lavages and mucosa from young (2- to 4-week-old and 11- to 15-week-old) and older (81-to 98-week-old) rats by using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reactions. Significant increases of GRO/CINC-1 levels were found in unstimulated nasal lavages of the older rats compared to that of the 2- to 4-week-old animals. GRO/CINC-1 showed time-dependent production with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulation in nasal lavages. The GRO/CINC-1 production reached a plateau by 4 h with LPS in any group. However, the manner of the initial time course showed no significant differences among these three groups. At the time of peak production of GRO/CINC-1, messenger RNA for the GRO/CINC-1 was found to be induced in the nasal mucosa. These findings may be important for understanding the mechanisms of the altered immune response and inflammation in the nasal cavity associated with aging.