Published online before print October 4, 2005
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,2
* Department of Molecular Biology and Microbiology, Biomolecular Science Center, University of Central Florida, Orlando; and
Department of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and the Will Rogers Institute Pulmonary Research Laboratory, David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California Los Angeles
1Correspondence: Department of Molecular Biology and Microbiology, Biomolecular Science Center, University of Central Florida, 4000 Central Florida Blvd., Bldg. 20, Rm. 236, Orlando, FL 32816. E-mail: acole{at}mail.ucf.edu
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Key Words: knockout bacteria
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500 µg/ml) and is responsible for a majority of its intrinsic antibacterial activity [1
]. Selective removal of cationic polypeptides from nasal secretions ablated the ex vivo activity of whole nasal fluid against mucoid Pseudomonas aeruginosa, but reconstitution with physiologic concentrations of lysozyme alone could restore activity [1
]. Akinbi and colleagues [2
] reported that mice overexpressing exogenous rat lysozyme were more efficient than wild-type mice in killing group B streptococci and mucoid P. aeruginosa and had an increased survival rate after infection. We recently reported that mice rendered deficient in lysozyme M (lys M/) developed skin lesions when injected with the normally nonpathogenic and highly lysozyme-sensitive bacterium Micrococcus luteus [3
]. Tissue injury in these mice was a result of the failure to inactivate and degrade the cell wall component peptidoglycan, which resulted in a prolonged inflammatory response. Although humans have one lysozyme gene, mice have two different genes, which differ by only six amino acids: lysozyme M, expressed by myeloid cells and epithelia, and lysozyme P, expressed in Paneth cells of the small intestinal Crypts of Lieberkühn. Each gene product is a 14-kDa cationic enzyme, which cleaves the linkage between N-acetyl muramic acid and N-acetyl glucosamine of bacterial peptidoglycan. Although hydrolysis of peptidoglycan does not initially kill bacteria, it alters the shape and impairs the mechanical rigidity of bacteria, setting the stage for downstream events, which mechanically or chemically stress the cell. Like other cationic proteins, lysozyme has direct bactericidal activity, which is independent of its enzymatic activity [4 ]. Lysozyme may also indirectly damage bacteria by activating endogenous, autolytic enzymes within the cell wall normally responsible for remodeling during the process of cell division [5 6 7 ].
In the current study, we used lys M/ mice to explore the role of lysozyme during P. aeruginosa infection of the murine airways. While this manuscript was in preparation, we learned of an elegant study by Markart and colleagues [8 ], which revealed that mouse lysozyme M is important for resistance to pulmonary Klebsiella pneumoniae infection. Our study complements and extends their finding that lysozyme M is a critical component of airways host defense against pathogenic microbes.
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Bacterial culture conditions
The P. aeruginosa strain H103 was generously donated by Dr. Robert E. W. Hancock (University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada). P. aeruginosa H103 [10
] was cultured 18 h at 37°C in 50 ml 3% Trypticase soy broth (TSB), snap-frozen by rapidly freezing aliquots in liquid nitrogen, and stored at 80°C for up to 1 year. Aliquots (500 µl) were thawed and subcultured 2.5 h immediately prior to use in antimicrobial assays in 50 ml 3% TSB to obtain a midlogarithmic growth phase. Subcultures were then centrifuged at 1400 g for 10 min and washed twice in 10 ml 1x Hanks balanced salt solution (HBSS). The bacteria were collected at 1400 g for 10 min and resuspended in 1x HBSS. An optical density 625 = 0.160.18 approximated 2.5 x 107 bacterial colony-forming units (CFU)/ml. Exact CFU used in each experiment were determined post hoc by manually counting colonies of serial tenfold dilutions spread onto TSB agar.
Intranasal airway infection and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL)
Mice, 68 weeks old, were briefly anesthetized with inhaled isoflurane, and P. aeruginosa H103 (2x107 CFU/50 µl 1xHBSS) was introduced carefully into both nares, which the mice aspirated reflexively. After 1820 h, mice were killed with an overdose of inhaled isoflurane, and the lungs and trachea were exposed. Flexible Tygon tubing (0.060'' outer diameter, 0.020'' inner diameter, St-Gobain Performance Plastics, Akron, OH) was inserted into a 1.5- to 2.0-mm midline incision in the trachea and secured with a nylon ligature. Lungs were lavaged with 5 ml normal saline containing 5 mM EDTA. Cells were sedimented promptly at 300 g for 10 min and washed with 5 ml phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), and an aliquot of cells was resuspended in RPMI 1640 + 10% fetal calf serum. The remaining cells were kept in PBS for lysoplate analyses. Total leukocytes were counted using a hemocytometer, and a fraction of the total cells was centrifuged onto lysine-coated microscope slides using a CytoSpin3 (Shandon, Cheshire, England) at 800 rpm for 10 min and stained with DiffQuik (Dade Behring, Inc., Newark, DE) to perform a differential leukocyte count (
200 total cells per mouse, counted in randomly selected ocular fields of view). The expression of lysozyme was confirmed by immunocytochemistry, using 1:1000 rabbit antilysozyme P antisera and Fast Red chromogenic detection (Sigma Chemical Co., St. Louis, MO). Alveolar macrophages constituted >95% of total leukocytes in uninfected mice. Mice that were productively infected were determined to have >50% neutrophils in their BAL. Epithelial cells were a minor (<2%) component of the total cell count.
Western analysis of lysozyme in BAL
BAL fluids were separated into cellular and fluid (supernatant) fractions by low-speed centrifugation (300 g), and the cellular fraction was extracted separately with 5% acetic acid. The acid extract was lyophilized and resuspended in 0.01% acetic acid. The extracts and the fluid fractions were then absorbed with MacroPrep CM beads (Bio-Rad, Hercules, CA) at pH 6, and the bound material was eluted with 5% acetic acid and centrifuged through a 3-kDa molecular weight cutoff filter (Centricon, Millipore, Bedford, MA) to remove excess salts. The retentate volume was adjusted to 100 µL in 0.01% acetic acid, separated by Tricine sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) [11
], and immunoblotted to Immobilon PSQ-polyvinylidene difluoride membranes (Millipore) for 1 h in 0.7% acetic acid/10% methanol, as described previously [12
]. The membranes were then incubated with 1:1000 dilution of rabbit polyclonal anti-mouse lysozyme M or anti-mouse lysozyme P overnight at room temperature. After several washings in 1x Blotto Tris-buffered saline plus 1% dried milk and 0.1% bovine serum albumin, membranes were incubated with a 1:20,000 dilution of peroxidase-conjugated polyclonal goat anti-rabbit secondary antibody (Pierce, Rockford, IL) for 1 h at room temperature. The membranes were washed and then developed using Supersignal West Pico chemiluminescent substrate (Pierce). Recombinant lysozyme M and P protein standards were produced in a baculovirus expression system as described previously [3
, 13
] and were used as standards for Western analyses. Rabbit anti-mouse lysozyme M and P polyclonal antisera were produced as described previously [3
, 13
].
Lysoplate assay for muramidase activity of lysozyme M and lysozyme P
Briefly, 0.5 mg/ml lyophilized M. luteus was suspended in 66 mM sodium phosphate buffer (Na2HPO4/NaH2PO4, pH 7.4), combined with 10 ml 1% low electroendoosmotic (EEO) agarose in 66 mM sodium phosphate, and poured in a level, 9 x 9 cm square petri dish [14
]. Sixteen or 25 evenly spaced 3.2 mm wells were punched in the solidified agar, and 5 µl sample was introduced into each well (size of well is 78 µl). Samples (in 1xPBS) included lysozyme M standard, lysozyme P standard, cell-free BAL fluid, or total cells recovered from BAL. To recover lysozyme, cells were washed in PBS, extracted with 5% acetic acid, and sonicated for 10 s x two bursts. Clarified supernatant was lyophilized and resuspended in 50 µl 0.01% acetic acid. Lysozyme enzymatic activity was determined by measuring the diameters of zones of clearance relative to recombinant standards of lysozyme M or lysozyme P. To calculate the concentration of lysozyme per cell, total lysozyme concentration was divided by the number of cells enumerated with a hemacytometer. Recombinant lysozyme M and P standards were generated as described previously by our group [3
].
Radial diffusion assay to determine antipseudomonal activity of lysozyme M and lysozyme P
Radial diffusion assays (RDA) were performed as described previously [15
, 16
]. Briefly, the underlay consisted of 1% low EEO agarose and 1:100 dilution of TSB in 10 mM sodium phosphate, pH 7.4. The overlay consisted of 6% TSB and 1% agarose in distilled H2O for all assays. P. aeruginosa strain H103 (4x106) was mixed with 10 ml underlay gel solutions, kept molten at 48°C, and poured into 100 cm2 square petri dishes. A series of 3.2 mm diameter wells was punched after the agarose solidified, and 5 µl lysozyme sample was added into designated wells. Plates were incubated at 37°C for 3 h to allow for protein diffusion. The microbe-laden underlay was then covered with 10 ml molten overlay, and the plates were allowed to harden. Antimicrobial activity was identified as a clear zone around the well, devoid of microbial growth after 18 h incubation at 37°C. The x-intercept of the relationship between the zone diameter versus logarithm to the base 10 (log10) peptide concentration was determined by least mean squares regression and equated to the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC).
Statistics
Comparisons between groups were analyzed by t-test or a one-way ANOVA with Tukey test (SigmaStat, SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL). For data that were not distributed normally, a log10transformation or nonparametric analysis (Mann-Whitney test) was performed. Error bars represent standard deviation.
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Figure 1. lys M/ mice show impaired clearance of P. aeruginosa airways infection. The airways of lys M/ (/), lys M+/ (+/), and wild-type mice (+/+) were infected with 2 x 107 CFU P. aeruginosa. CFU were recovered from BAL 1820 h postinfection and quantitated. Each point represents a single mouse, and the dashed lines indicate mean ± SD. BAL fluid from lys M/ mice had a significantly higher concentration of viable P. aeruginosa than wild-type control.
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Figure 2. Total cell count and number of neutrophils are similar in lys M/ and sufficient mice. Total cell count per ml of BAL fluid (A) and percent neutrophils (B) was determined for lys M/, lys M+/, and wild-type mice at 1820 h. Each point represents a single mouse, and the dashed lines indicate mean ± SD. Note that the number of total cells per ml in BAL fluid as well as the percentage of neutrophils were not significantly different among the three groups of mice.
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Figure 3. Lysozyme P in the airways of lys M/ mice is not derived from neutrophils. Cells obtained from BAL of a lys M/ mouse (A), a lys M+/ mouse (B), and a wild-type mouse (C) infected with P. aeruginosa were stained with antilysozyme antibody and counterstained with hematoxylin. Reactive cells stained red. (D) Cells from the same wild-type mouse as in C stained with preimmune antisera and counterstained with hematoxylin. (E) Tricine SDS-PAGE Western analysis of the fluid (upper panel) and cellular (lower panel) portions of BAL fluid from lys M/ (/), lys M+/ (+/), and wild-type (+/+) mice. Lys M and Lys P, 100 ng and 200 ng each of lysozyme M and lysozyme P standards, respectively. Results are representative of three separate experiments with different animals for each replicate.
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106 cells and 3, 5, and 10 µl supernatant from wild-type, lys M+/, and lys M/, respectively, were subjected to Tricine SDS-PAGE antilysozyme Western analysis (Fig. 3E)
. Lysozyme M and P can be distinguished by a slight difference in electrophoretic mobility (Lys M and Lys P standards in Fig. 3E
), similar to the shift seen when the two proteins were electrophoresed in acid urea-PAGE [3
]. As expected, lysozyme M was found in the fluid and cellular components of BAL from wild-type mice and was absent in both components of BAL from lys M/ mice. Instead, lys M/ mice expressed lysozyme P in the fluid fraction but not in the cellular fraction, indicating that neutrophils are not the source of lysozyme P during airways infection. It is interesting that lysozyme M was also the solitary lysozyme component in the humoral and cellular fractions of lys M+/ mice. Lysozyme concentration was quantified separately for the cellular and fluid components of BAL by lysoplate analysis (Fig. 4 ). Based on results from Figure 3 , lysozyme M standards were used to quantify samples from wild-type (n=10) and hemizygous (n=8) mice, and lysozyme P standards were used to quantify samples from lys M/ mice (n=11). For the cellular components of BAL, the lysozyme content per neutrophil was significantly reduced in lys M/ mice as compared with lys M+/ mice (P=0.0025) and wild-type mice (P=0.00014). Likewise, lysozyme concentration of the fluid (supernatant) fraction of BAL from lys M/ mice was significantly lower than comparable fractions from lys M+/ (P=0.018) or wild-type (P<0.0001) mice. Concentration of lysozyme was not statistically different between lys M+/ and wild-type mice (P=0.120.24). Although measurements of lysozyme concentration in BAL were associated with muramidase activity, they did not account for nonlysozyme muramidase activity, which could possibly be present in the fluid. Nevertheless, as the lysozyme measurements were clearly different in the three types of mice, background muramidase activity was likely not a significant factor. Collectively, the lower levels of total lysozyme in lys M/ mice may account for the reduced in vivo antimicrobial activity against P. aeruginosa H103 (Fig. 1) .
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Figure 4. Concentration of lysozyme in BAL is diminished in lys M/ mice. The concentration of lysozyme in the cellular (A) and fluid (B) component of BAL was determined by lysoplate analysis for lys M/, lys M+/, and lys M+/+ mice. To calculate the concentration of lysozyme per cell, total lysozyme concentration was divided by the number of cells enumerated with a hemocytometer. Each point represents a single mouse, and the dashed lines indicate mean ± SD.
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Figure 5. Comparison of antipseudomonal activity of lysozyme P and lysozyme M. Purified recombinant lysozyme P and M were subjected to RDAs against P. aeruginosa H103, and the MIC for each protein was calculated. Error bars indicate SD.
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Our study and that of Markart et al. [8 ] contradict the commonly held notion that lysozyme is only important in host defense against nonpathogenic, highly lysozyme-sensitive, gram-positive bacteria. The high concentrations of this antimicrobial enzyme in the airways and in phagocytes [1 , 10 ] and its additive and synergistic interactions with other antimicrobial components in leukocytes and epithelia [18 ] enhance its importance even against microbes that are not highly sensitive to its effects in vitro.
Received February 4, 2005; revised July 14, 2005; accepted July 15, 2005.
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