Pre-Treatment with Zirconia Nanoparticles Reduces Inflammation Induced by the Pathogenic H5N1 Influenza Virus

Huo, Caiyun; Xiao, Jin; Xiao, Kai; Zou, Shumei; Wang, Ming; Qi, Peng; Liu, Tianlong; Hu, Yanxin

The activation or maturation of DCs is critical for both innate and adaptive immunity. During initiation of the immune response, the expression of co-stimulatory markers CD40, CD80, and CD86 at the DC surface is related to their ability to induce or suppress immune responses, as is MHC-II expression. Thus, the proportions of CD40+ CD11c+, CD80+ CD11c+, CD86+ CD11c+, and MHC-II+ CD11c+ cells among mouse T cells on days 1 and 3 after intraperitoneal ZrO 2 administration were determined using fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS; Figure 4A ). CD40, CD80, CD86, and MHC-II expression levels in the ZrO 2 groups were higher than those of the control group, with a significant difference between the 25 mg/kg ZrO 2 and glucose groups (P < 0.001). Notably, we found that the higher dosage of ZrO 2 resulted in lower expression, which was due to toxicity of ZrO 2 in normal mice. These data suggest that 200 nm ZrO 2 can promote CD40, CD80, CD86, and MHC-II expression in T cells of mice and favorably affect the maturation of DCs.