Choline chloride attenuates the allergic airway disease by inhibiting the lysophosphatidylcholine induced response in mouse model

Association between dietary choline intake and asthma and pulmonary inflammation and lung function: NHANES analysis 2009-2018

BACKGROUND

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory condition, and choline may alleviate airway inflammation and oxidative stress but studies on the association between dietary choline and asthma remain limited. The purpose of this study is to investigate the associations between dietary choline intake and asthma, as well as pulmonary inflammation and lung function in children and adults.

METHODS

In our research, we employed the data of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 2009 to 2018, including 7,104 children and 16,580 adults. We used fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FENO) to assess pulmonary inflammation and forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), forced vital capacity (FVC), the FEV1/FVC ratio, peak expiratory flow rate (PEF), predicted FEV1% and predicted FVC% to assess lung function. Binary logistic regression, linear regression, and the restricted cubic splines were used to analyze the associations between dietary choline intake and asthma and pulmonary inflammation and lung function.

RESULTS

In children, we observed the positive associations between the natural logarithmic transformation of choline (ln-choline) and ln-FEV1 [ β:0.011; 95%CI: (0.004,0.018)] and ln-FVC [ β:0.009; 95%CI: (0.002,0.016)]. In adult males, the ln-choline was positively associated with ln-FEV1[ β:0.018; 95%CI: (0.011,0.024)], ln-FVC [ β:0.020; 95%CI: (0.014,0.026)], ln-PEF [ β:0.014; 95%CI: (0.007,0.022)], ln-predicted FEV1% [ β: 0.007; 95%CI: (0.001, 0.013)] and ln-predicted FVC%[ β: 0.010; 95%CI: (0.005, 0.015)] and negatively associated with FENO [ β: -0.029; 95%CI: (-0.049, -0.009)]. In unadjusted and partially adjusted models, adult females with ln-choline in the highest quartile had 25.2% (95%CI:9.4-38.3%) and 23.8% (95%CI:7.6-37.1%) decreased odds of asthma compared to those with the lowest quartile group. In the dose-response relationships of dietary choline and pulmonary inflammation and lung function indicators in adults, there existed threshold and saturation effects.

CONCLUSION

The associations between dietary choline and lung function indicators such as FEV1 and FVC are positive in children and adults. The association between dietary choline and pulmonary inflammation is negative only in adults.

NLRP3/GSDMD mediated pyroptosis induces lung inflammation susceptibility in diesel exhaust exposed mouse strains

BACKGROUND

Genetic diversity among species influences the disease severity outcomes linked to air pollution. However, the mechanism responsible for this variability remain elusive and needs further investigation.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the genetic factors and pathways linked with differential susceptibility in mouse strains associated with diesel exhaust exposure.

METHODS

C57BL/6 and Balb/c mice were exposed to diesel exhaust (DE) for 5 days/week for 30 min/day for 8 weeks. Body weight of mice was recorded every week and airway hyperresponsiveness towards DE exposure was recorded after 24 h of last exposure. Mice were euthanised to collect BALF, blood, lung tissues for immunobiochemical assays, structural integrity and genetic studies.

RESULTS

C57BL/6 mice showed significantly decreased body weight in comparison to Balb/c mice (p < 0.05). Both mouse strains showed lung resistance and damage to elastance upon DE exposure compared to respective controls (p < 0.05) with more pronounced effects in C57BL/6 mice. Lung histology showed increase in bronchiolar infiltration and damage to the wall in C57BL/6 mice (p < 0.05). DE exposure upregulated pro-inflammatory and Th2 cytokine levels in C57BL/6 in comparison to Balb/c mice. C57BL/6 mice showed increase in Caspase-1 and ASC expression confirming activation of downstream pathway. This showed significant activation of inflammasome pathway in C57BL/6 mice with ∼2-fold increase in NLRP3 and elevated IL-1β expression. Gasdermin-D levels were increased in C57BL/6 mice demonstrating induction of pyroptosis that corroborated with IL-1β secretion (p < 0.05). Genetic variability among both species was confirmed with sanger's sequencing suggesting presence of SNPs in 3'UTRs of IL-1β gene influencing expression between mouse strains.

CONCLUSIONS

C57BL/6 mice exhibited increased susceptibility to diesel exhaust in contrast to Balb/c mice via activation of NLRP3-related pyroptosis. Differential susceptibility between strains may be attributed via SNPs in the 3'UTRs of the IL-1β gene.