Analysis of IL-1α, bFGF, TGF-β1, IFNγ, MMP-1, and CatD Expression in Multinuclea Macrophages In Vitro.

The incidence of mono- and multinuclear cells and their expression of pro- and antifibrotic factors were studied in cultured peritoneal macrophages from intact and BCG-infected mice. Generally, the expression of factors increased with an increase in the number of nuclei per cell. However, the expression was higher in macrophages from BCG infected mice, except the cells with 3 and more nuclei, extremely rarely expressing IL-1α in cultures from intact and BCG-infected animals. The number of macrophages with 3 and more nuclei, expressing CatD, was comparable with the number of mono- and binuclear macrophages. Presumably, this was determined by various mechanisms of formation of multinuclear (3-5 and more nuclei) macrophages, for example, by amitosis.