Figure 3. Effect of shear stress on cytokine release from infected monocytes.

THP-1 monocytes were infected with mock PBS or chlamydial EB (MOI 2) for 16 h. 10⁶ uninfected and infected cells were sheared for 20 min at 0 (static) or 10 dyn/cm² (shear) using a cone-and-plate viscometer, and were incubated for either 30 min or 3 h post shear. The supernatants were analyzed by ELISA for cytokines TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, and IL-8. The results are expressed as mean ± SD of one representative experiment performed in triplicate, and the experiments were performed three times. The * denote statistically significant increase (P<0.05, Student's t-test) in cytokine release due to shear stress of infected cells compared to unsheared, static treatment.