Fig. 2
NK cells are abundant in infant intestines. a Flow cytometric plots showing the applied gating strategy for intestinal NK cells (viable CD56+CD127−CD45+lin− cells). FACS plots of a representative donor are shown. b viSNE plot of flow cytometric data showing gated NK cells and CD127+ ILCs from epithelium (EP), lamina propria (LP) and blood (B) within lin− populations (gray) (N = 4). c Frequencies of infant and adult CD16− (white circles) and CD16+ (black circles) NK cells from EP (N = 12) and LP (N = 13) tissues (infant samples), adult samples N = 13 (EP and LP). d NK cell frequencies of viable lymphocytes shown for different age groups in EP and LP tissues (infant samples N = 12 (EP) and N = 13 (LP), adult samples (A) N = 13 (EP and LP). e Absolute NK cell numbers per cm2 for different age groups in EP and LP tissues (infant samples N = 9 (EP) and N = 11 (LP), adult samples (A) N = 8 (EP), and N = 9 (LP)). Median frequencies indicated by red lines. Error bars define interquartile ranges between 75th and 25th percentiles. Statistical comparisons are Mann-Whitney U comparisons. Asterisks represent the following p-values: *p < 0.05; ***p < 0.001; and ****p < 0.0001
