Figure 11. LMWHA inhibits IL-4 or IL-13-induced fibrocyte differentiation.

Human PBMC were cultured in (A) SFM, SFM with 1 ng/ml IL-4, SFM with 300 µg/ml LMWHA, or SFM with 1 ng/ml IL-4 and 300 µg/ml LMWHA, or (B) SFM, SFM with 1 ng/ml IL-13, or SFM with 1 ng/ml IL-13 and 300 µg/ml LMWHA. After 5 days, the cells were air dried, fixed, stained, and the number of fibrocytes was counted. The results are mean ± SEM of percent control (n = 3 separate experiments). The number of fibrocytes per 2.5×10⁵ PBMC in controls from the 3 donors was 900, 1520, and 431. * indicates p<0.05, ** p<0.01, and *** p<0.001 compared to control as determined by t-test. Using the non-parametric Mann Whitney two-tailed t-test, there is no significant difference among control, 300 µg/ml LMWHA, 1 ng/ml IL-4, 1 ng/ml IL-13, the combination of 300 µg/ml LMWHA and 1 ng/ml IL-4, or the combination of 300 µg/ml LMWHA and 1 ng/ml IL-13. Using the non-parametric Mann Whitney one-tailed t-test, 300 µg/ml LMWHA significantly decreases the number of fibrocytes when compared to control with p<0.05. Also, the combination of 300 µg/ml LMWHA and 1 ng/ml IL-4 significantly decreases the number of fibrocytes when compared to 1 ng/ml IL-4 with p<0.05. The combination of 300 µg/ml LMWHA and 1 ng/ml IL-13 also significantly decreases the number of fibrocytes when compared to 1 ng/ml IL-13 with p<0.05.