Frontiers in Immunology (Nov 2021)

Obesity Prolongs the Inflammatory Response in Mice After Severe Trauma and Attenuates the Splenic Response to the Inflammatory Reflex

  • Fabian Gärtner,
  • Adrian Gihring,
  • Aileen Roth,
  • Joachim Bischof,
  • Pengfei Xu,
  • Leonard Elad,
  • Martin Wabitsch,
  • Timo Burster,
  • Uwe Knippschild

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2021.745132
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12

Abstract

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Thoracic traumas with extra-thoracic injuries result in an immediate, complex host response. The immune response requires tight regulation and can be influenced by additional risk factors such as obesity, which is considered a state of chronic inflammation. Utilizing high-dimensional mass and regular flow cytometry, we define key signatures of obesity-related alterations of the immune system during the response to the trauma. In this context, we report a modification in important components of the splenic response to the inflammatory reflex in obese mice. Furthermore, during the response to trauma, obese mice exhibit a prolonged increase of neutrophils and an early accumulation of inflammation associated CCR2+CD62L+Ly6Chi monocytes in the blood, contributing to a persistent inflammatory phase. Moreover, these mice exhibit differences in migration patterns of monocytes to the traumatized lung, resulting in decreased numbers of regenerative macrophages and an impaired M1/M2 switch in traumatized lungs. The findings presented in this study reveal an attenuation of the inflammatory reflex in obese mice, as well as a disturbance of the monocytic compartment contributing to a prolonged inflammation phase resulting in fewer phenotypically regenerative macrophages in the lung of obese mice.

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