Fig. 4

G. spinigerum ESA modulated phagocytic capacity of monocytes. Monocyte-enriched adherent cells from PBMC cultured in medium alone, plus IL-2 (10 ng/ml) or ES (0.1 μg/ml) for 12 h were incubated with zymosan (ZM). After cultivation, the cells were labeled with anti-human CD14 PE to identify monocytes and assayed phagocytosis by confocal microscope (A). ZM particle in phagocytic cells were shown in green (a–c), total monocytes were shown in red (d–f), and merged micrographs (g–i) illustrated total monocytes with and without engulfed ZM. The micrographs represent one of three independent experiments. (A) The percentage of phagocytic cells (ZM⁺CD14⁺ cells) in total CD14⁺ cells by FACSCalibur. (B) The phagocytic capacity were determined from the number of ZM particles in phagocytic cells of total 100 monocytes (CD14⁺) and were counted under fluorescent microscope and confocal microscope (C). Each data element represents mean ± SEM from three independent experiments. The difference in value between groups was analyzed by Student’s t test. Significant differences among groups are indicated; NS not significant. The results are the number of internalized ZM in 100 monocytes in ESA-treated PBMC cultures was significantly lower than those in medium alone (p = 0.001). The number of phagocytic cells (percentages of monocytes with engulfed ZM) in ESA-pretreated culture tended to be lower than controls cultured in medium alone (p > 0.05). IL-2 pretreatment significantly increased the number of phagocytic cells (p = 0.003) and phagocytosis capacity (p < 0.001) compared with ESA-pretreated cells