Expression and cellular source of 11-βHSD1, 11-βHSD2 and
glucocorticoids in the lungs and liver during late active pulmonary TB
Groups of five mice with T2D, TB and T2D/TB were euthanized by
exsanguination under pentobarbital anesthesia after 60 and 120 days of
infection, in two independent experiments. The late active disease is
well established by this time in this model, as characterized by
extensive pneumonia, high bacillary loads and low expression of IFN-γ
and TNF-α. Three right lungs were intra-tracheally perfused with
absolute ethanol and after 24hr the tissue was embedded for histology
and immunohistochemistry studies, while the left lungs were immediately
frozen for total RNA isolation and gene expression determination of
11-βHSD1 and 11-βHSD2 by RT-PCR. The same tissue samples for the
histology study were used to determine by immunohistochemistry the
cellular source of corticosterone and cortisone and their concentrations
by digital pathology. Tissue fragments from the liver were processed in
the same way.