Project description:We characterized the transcriptomic profile of whole left lung homogenate in dust exposed Fat-1 and C57Bl/6 (WT) mice in male and female mice.
Project description:Farm workers are at an increased risk for the development of acute and chronic lung inflammatory diseases from their everyday exposures to organic dust. Previous investigations have examined the inflammatory effects in mice from single and repetitive exposures to dust from swine confinement facilities, however, no study has explored these effects in a chronic model. To address this research gap, we established a chronic dust exposure mouse model of lung tumor-igenesis that was also used to measure the efficacy of omega-3 fatty acid-derived lipid mediators as therapeutics for mitigating these induced responses. Our results from these investigations are the first to evaluate the chronic inflammatory, and carcinogenic effects of these dusts, as well as identify a potential therapeutic strategy for mitigating the inflammatory effects by using an omega-3 fatty acid-derived bioactive lipid mediator.
Project description:Agricultural workers are at risk for the development of acute and chronic lung diseases due to their exposure to organic agricultural dusts. A diet intervention using the omega-3 fatty acid docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) has been shown to be an effective therapeutic approach for alleviating a dust-induced inflammatory response. We thus hypothesized a high-DHA diet would alter the dust-induced inflammatory response through the increased production of specialized pro-resolving mediators (SPMs). Mice were pre-treated with a DHA-rich diet 4 week s before being intranasally challenged with a single dose of an extract made from dust collected from a concentrated swine feeding operation (HDE ). This omega-3-fatty-acid-rich diet led to reduced arachidonic acid levels in the blood, enhanced macrophage recruitment, and increased the production of the DHA-derived SPM Resolvin D1 (RvD1) in the lung following HDE exposure. An assessment of transcript-level changes in the immune response demonstrated significant differences in immune pathway activation and alterations of numerous macrophage-associated genes among HDE-challenged mice fed a high DHA diet. Our data indicate that consuming a DHA-rich diet leads to the enhanced production of SPMs during an acute inflammatory challenge to dust, supporting a role for dietary DHA supplementation as a potential therapeutic strategy for reducing dust-induced lung inflammation.
Project description:Occupational exposure to dust containing crystalline silica may result in serious adverse health effects including silicosis and cancer. Previous studies which employed animal models for inhalation exposure to crystalline silica revealed changes in blood gene expression profiles in association with the silica-induced lung toxicity. Currently, global gene expression profiles were determined in the whole blood samples obtained from control (not exposed to dust) and dust containing silica exposed individuals with or without clinically identified silicosis. Differences in the blood gene expression profiles were detected in the blood samples obtained from the control and the silica-containing dust exposed individuals. Between the two groups of the silica-containing dust exposed individuals, the number of significantly differentially expressed genes was more in the blood samples obtained from those with silicosis.
Project description:The goal of the study was to characterize gene expression profiles of lung epithelial and THP-1 monocytic cells influenzed by exposure to poultry dust extract. Gene expression profiles were determined by DNA microarrayanalysis using Illumina Human HT-12 v4 Expression bead chip, and changes in significantly induced transcripts validated by real time quantitative RT-PCR, ELISA, Western blotting and immunohistochemical staining. Significantly induced genes included IL-8, IL-6, ICAM-1, CCL2, CCL5, TLR4 and PTGS2. Pathway analysis indicated that dust extract treatment induced changes in gene expression influenced functions related to immune and inflammatory responses. Cells were treated with medium alone (control) or dust extract (0.1% or 0.25%) for 1, 3 or 6 h (reference).