Fig. 1: Gingival LCs are reduced in aged mice.

a Representative FACS plots demonstrate the identification of LCs in gingival epithelial tissues (CD45⁺γδTCR⁻MHCII⁺langerin⁺) of young and aged B6 mice, bar graphs show frequencies of MHCII⁺ cells and LCs in these mice. Data are representative of four independent experiments with 5 mice/group. b Immunofluorescence staining of maxilla cross sections of young and aged B6 mice with mAb directed against langerin (red) and with DAPI (blue) for nuclear visualization. Bar graph shows the numbers of langerin-positive cells per field of view and represents the mean values of five mice (10 fields/mouse) + SEM. Representative data of three independent experiments. Scale bar 50 µm. c Representative FACS plots and graphs demonstrated the frequencies of the various LC subsets based on the expression of CD103 and CX₃CR1, the cells were pre-gated on LCs (CD45⁺MHCII⁺CD11c⁺EpCAM⁺langerin⁺). Data are representative of three independent experiments with 3–5 mice/group (mean + SEM). d Representative FACS plots and graph depict the frequencies of LCs (CD45⁺γδTCR⁻MHCII⁺langerin⁺) in the epidermis of young and aged mice. Data are representative of three independent experiments with five mice/group (mean + SEM). e Immunofluorescence staining of epidermal sheets of young and aged mice with mAb directed against langerin (green), MHCII (red) and with DAPI (blue). Bar graphs show the numbers of langerin-positive cells per field of view and represent the mean values of six mice (4 fields/mouse) + SEM. Representative data of three independent experiments. Scale bar 50 µm. *P < 0.05 (unpaired Student’s t test) compared with young samples.