Fig. 1: S. pyogenes access systemic circulation via lymphatics.
From: Extracellular bacterial lymphatic metastasis drives Streptococcus pyogenes systemic infection
a–c S. pyogenes (H598) recovered from the hindlimb infection site, lymph nodes, and systemic organs of FVB/n mice 0.5 h (blue circles, a), 3 h (red circles, b), or 24 h (grey circles, c) after intramuscular infection with 108 CFU. Symbols represent individual mice, n = 6 per group, lines indicate geometric means. d Schematic summarising representative time course of transit of S. pyogenes from the hindlimb following intramuscular injection of hypervirulent S. pyogenes, organs listed in f. Black indicates 0 CFU; grey, low CFU; and red, high CFU counts. e Recovery of S. pyogenes from hindlimb infection site and ipsilateral axillary lymph nodes 1 h after intramuscular infection with 108 CFU in FVB/n mice, with (red bars or red circles) or without (blue bars) surgical removal of the draining ipsilateral inguinal lymph node prior to infection. Symbols represent individual mice, n = 4 per group, bars indicate geometric means. ****p ≤ 0.0001; ns, p > 0.5: Two-tailed Student’s t-test performed on log10-transformed data. f Schematic of lymphatic drainage route from hindlimb following intramuscular injection of Evans Blue dye, indicated by blue arrows and colouring: ig, ipsilateral inguinal node; il, ipsilateral iliac node; ax, ipsilateral axillary node; and ht, heart (via subclavian vein); br, ipsilateral (non-draining) brachial node. See also Supplementary Figs. 1 and 2. CFU are per ml of blood, per g of liver, per leg, or per organ.
