Red blood cells from mice on high fat diet induce macrophage activation during phagocytosis. Mus musculus

We studied macrophage gene expression from mice fed chow diet (C) or 60% high fat diet (HF), that phagocytized C-RBC, HFD-RBC, or no RBC. Macrophages from mice on HF diet were activated toward a pro-inflammatory phenotype. In macrophages isolated from CD mice, RBC phagocytosis yielded a gene expression pattern similar to HF macrophages. Incubation of HF-RBC with macrophages resulted in a significantly more pronounced upregulation of pro-inflammatory chemokines as compared to C-RBC. Overall design: Peritoneal macrophages were obtained from C57BL/6 mice fed either C or HF diet. Phagocytosis was performed in vitro with C-RBC or HF-RBC; macrophages not exposed to RBC served as a control. Affymetrix Mouse Gene 1.0 ST microarray chips were used to assess the gene expression profile.