Phenotype heterogeneity and maturation of alveolar macrophages in the domestic pig. Sus scrofa

The macrophages of the airways are the first line of innate immune defense against inhaled pathogens. We showed that pig bronchoalveolar cells are composed of an heterogeneous alveolar macrophage (AM) population. The adherent AM non-adherent produce more TNF when stimulated with bacterial compound and are more efficient at phagocytosis than the non-adherent AM.The micro-array analysis revealed two different gene expression and would suggest that the non-adherent population would be more adapted to anti-viral responses. Overall design: 5 Affymetrix Snowball microarray were analyzed from 1 pig breed (HAMSHIRE). Gene expression from non-adherent AM was compared to previous Array of Adherent AM from the same individuals (Series GSE45145). Cells were left untreated.