Effect of heme on leukocyte infiltration and adhesion molecule expression.

Immunohistochemical analysis of liver and pancreas tissues of BALB/c mice after 24 hours of intravenous injection with either saline (left panel) or heme (750 μM) (right panel). (A) Detection of granulocytes (dark staining, arrowhead) in the liver using immunohistochemical analysis. Note the pronounced influx of granulocytes into the liver of heme-treated mice (GR-1 antibody). (B) ICAM-1 immunoreactive proteins (dark staining) in liver sections of mice treated with saline or heme (YN1/1 antibody). ICAM-1 can be identified on the endothelial lining (arrowhead) and on infiltrating leukocytes of heme-treated animals (small arrowhead). (C) Localization of fibronectin in pancreas sections (dark staining, arrowhead) (A0245 antibody). The expression of fibronectin proteins was clearly enhanced in the heme-treated animals (dark staining, arrowhead).