Figure 7.

Aging leads to increased oxidative stress in pDCs at rest and during CpG-A activation. A-B, Aged pDCs exhibit evidence of increased oxidative stress (measured by DHE fluorescence) at rest (A) and during CpG-A (B) stimulation. Grey line represents young cells, and the black line indicates aged cells. Data represents at least two independent experiments with similar results (N=3/group). C, Pre-treating aged pDCs with NAC (black line) reduces the ROS profile during CpG-A activation compared to aged pDCs pre-treated with PBS (grey line). Data represents at least two independent experiments with similar results (N=3/group). D, NAC treatment augments IFN-α responses in aged pDCs during CpG-A stimulation. *p<0.05 Student's t-test. Young and aged pDCS were pre-treated for 1 h at 37 °C with or without 1 μM NAC diluted in normal cell culture media. Cells were cultured with 10 μg of CpG-A at 37 °C for 18h. NAC control refers to cells that were pre-treated with NAC but not activated with CpGA. Control cells that were neither pre-treated with NAC nor activated with CpG-A are denoted as control. Data represents at least two independent experiments with similar results (N=3/group).