Cytokine levels of IL-10, IL-12, IFNγ, TNF-α, and TGF-β
Quite a bit of information can be extracted from a small volume of sample. Researchers affiliated with the Inflammation Research Program at Allergan, Inc., pioneered a method for evaluating cytokine levels in mouse tears.
The Method in Brief
Allergan scientists first described their method in a 2008 publication in Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science. The authors placed 1.5 μL of buffer on each mouse eye and collected 1 μL of tears by capillary action from each eye using a glass capillary tube. Tear samples were then placed in 8 μL of buffer. For each multiplex assay reaction, 10 μL of diluted tear sample (2 μL tears in 8 μL buffer) were used. The Allergan scientists extended their work in a 2011 publication to demonstrate that antigen-presenting cells play a role in the onset of experimental dry eye.
Scientists studying dry eye and immunoregulation at the ocular surface have used this method and further adapted it to detect 25 cytokines and chemokines in human samples. Later work discovered that dry eye is a mucosal autoimmune disease that results in chronic inflammation and tissue damage.
New Tools for Measuring Mouse Cytokines
Many ophthalmology researchers have consistently relied on MilliporeSigma panels to enable their dry eye work, as demonstrated in these publications:
- A predictive model of ocular chronic graft versus host disease was developed based on tear biomarkers.
- Low humidity conditions increase inflammatory activity and result in lacrimal function deterioration.
- Quercetin and resveratrol have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects on conjuctival and corneal cells.
Whether you are working in a mouse model or with human samples, MilliporeSigma has new high sensitivity panels to empower your research agenda.
- The MILLIPLEX® map Mouse High Sensitivity T Cell Panel measures picogram levels of up to 18 cytokines (GM-CSF, IFNγ, IL-1α, IL-1β, IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-7, IL-10, IL-12 (p70), IL-13, IL-17A, KC/CXCL1, LIX, MCP-1, MIP-2, TNF-α).
- The MILLIPLEX MAP Human High Sensitivity T Cell Panel is available in 96 and 384 well formats and is able to detect up to 21 cytokine and chemokine biomarkers (Fractalkine, GM-CSF, IFNγ, IL-1β, IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-7, IL-8, IL-10, IL-12 (p70), IL-13, IL-17A, IL-21, IL-23, ITAC, MIP-1α, MIP-1β, MIP-3α, TNF-α).
Being able to measure low levels of inflammatory protein markers is critical to further understand the pathogenesis of many clinical and sub-clinical disease states, such as autoimmune disease, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, neurological disorders, and cancer.
Discover additional Luminex Partner kits to enable your research with the xMAP® Kit Finder.
Luminex and xMAP are trademarks of Luminex Corporation, registered in the U.S. and other countries. Milliplex is a trademark of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany.