Figure 5
The percentage of mice with bacteria reduces and the numbers of neutrophils in the airways of house-dust mite (HDM)/Streptococcus pneumoniae (S.pn)–challenged mice increases as HDM exposure wanes. (a) Experimental design: five BALB/c mice per group were inoculated intranasally with 15 μg of HDM three times a week for 3 weeks and subsequently infected on days 3, 7, 10, and 14 after final HDM administration and harvested 48 h after infection. (b) The percentage of mice with bacteria reduces as HDM exposure wanes. (c) The frequency of CD11b+Ly6G+ neutrophils and (d) CD11b+SiglecF+ in the airways was determined by flow cytometry. The dotted line illustrates phosphate-buffered saline/S.pn–infected mice harvested 48 h after infection (baseline). Data are presented as box and whisker plots, with the median of n=5 mice per group in two independent experiments. *P<0.05. BAL, bronchoalveolar lavage; CFU, colony-forming units.
