In vitro GRANULOMA FORMATION BY SPLEEN CELLS TREATED WITH PSORALEN PLUS LONG-WAVE ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION

Abstract— In vitro gransulomas ar induced by culturing murine spleen cells with artificial microparticles, dextran beads. In the presence of 0.5 μg/mL 8-methoxypsorlen, UVA radiation (0.2-2.0 J/cm² suppressed granuloma formatin in a UVA dose- dependent manner. The dose of PUVA did not affect the cell viability as assessed by trypan blue exclusion. The time course of granuloma formation in 0.5 J/cm² PUVA-treated cells was similar to that of normal spleen cells, with a miximum granuloma index at day 3 of culture, althought a49–63% suppression of granuloma formation was observed in PUVA-treated, adherent cells even when they were cultured with normal nonadherent cells. These data suggests that PUVA alters macrophages, resulting in the suppression of granuloma formation in vitro