Abstract

Exposure to the agricultural environment appears to be a risk factor for Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases, and dementia. Inhalation of agricultural dust may cause brain inflammation, leading to the development of neurological diseases. We studied the effects of poultry farm dust derived bacterial extracellular vesicles (EVs) (dust EVs) on the regulation of interleukin (IL)-8 expression in the human HMC3 microglial cell line. IL-8 dysregulation has been implicated in several neurological diseases. Microglial cells are brain resident immune cells that play major roles in immune and inflammatory responses. We found that treatment with dust EVs induced IL-8 expression at the transcriptional level via activation of NF-κB and STAT3 transcription factors. Chemical inhibitor and siRNA knockdown studies demonstrated that toll-like receptor (TLR)2 and TLR4 and enhanced intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) production by NADPH oxidases (NOX) mediate induction of IL-8 expression.

Date of publication

Spring 5-21-2025

Document Type

Thesis

Language

english

Persistent identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/10950/4860

Committee members

Vijay Boggaram, PhD. Vijay Mohan Rao Lella, PhD. Buka Samten, MD. Yan Yan Wang, PhD. Santosh Aryal, PhD.

Degree

Master of Science in Biotechnology

Thesis Final Approval Form Devabakthuni.pdf (90 kB)
Thesis approval form

Available for download on Friday, May 21, 2027

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