Toll-Like Receptor 4 Mediates the Response of Epithelial and Stromal Cells to Lipopolysaccharide in the Endometrium
Figure 8
Stromal-epithelial interactions in the endometrium.
Stromal and epithelial cells were isolated from Tlr4−/− and wild type (WT) and co-cultured in 24-well plates with 0, 20, 40, 60, 80 or 100% epithelial cells per well. The combination of cells used was: Tlr4−/− stroma with Tlr4−/− epithelium (A–D), Tlr4−/− stroma with WT epithelium (E–H), WT stroma with Tlr4−/− epithelium (I–L), or WT stroma with WT epithelium (M–P). Cells were cultured for 24 h in control media (hatched open bars) or media containing 1 µg/ml ultrapure LPS from E. coli serotype O111:B4 (solid bars). Supernatants were harvested to measure the accumulation of IL-6 (A, E, I, M), CXCL1 (B, F, J, N), CCL20 (C, G, K, O), and prostaglandin E2 (PGE; D, H, L, P). LPS stimulated accumulation of IL-6, CXCL1, CCL20 and PGE in the supernatant of stromal and epithelial cells from WT mice but not Tlr4−/− mice, principally in a cell type independent manner. Data are presented as mean + SEM and represent 3 independent experiments with 2 wells per treatment. Values differ between LPS-treatment and control media within co-culture group when analysed using Student t-test, * P<0.05, ** P<0.01, *** P<0.001.