Sterile inflammation alters neutrophil kinetics in mice

Neutrophils play a crucial role in establishing inflammation in response to an infection or injury, but their production rates, as well as blood and tissue residence times, remain poorly characterized under these conditions. Herein, using a biomaterial implant model to establish inflammation followed by in vivo tracking of newly formed neutrophils, we determine neutrophil kinetics under inflammatory conditions. To obtain quantifiable information from our experimental observations, we develop an ordinary differential equation-based mathematical model to extract kinetic parameters. Our data show that in the presence of inflammation resulting in emergency granulopoiesis-like conditions, neutrophil maturation time in the bone marrow reduces by around 60% and reduced half-life in the blood, compared with noninflammatory conditions. Additionally, neutrophil residence time at the inflammatory site increases by 2-fold. Together, these data improve our understanding of neutrophil kinetics under inflammatory conditions, which could pave the way for therapies that focus on modulating in vivo neutrophil dynamics.