Fig. 4

Crucial role of CCR2 in the recruitment of circulating cDCs, pDCs and macrophages into the thymus. a Experimental setup: lethally irradiated CD45.1xCD45.2 WT recipients were reconstituted with BM cells from CD45.1 WT mice together with CD45.2 WT (WT donor group), CD45.2 Ccr2^RFP/RFP deficient (Ccr2^RFP/RFP donor group), CD45.2 Ccr1^−/− (Ccr1^−/− donor group) or CD45.2 Ccr5^−/− (Ccr5^−/− donor group) mice (ratio 1:1). Thymic DCs and macrophages were analysed six weeks later. L-TBI: lethal total body irradiation. b Flow cytometry profiles and frequencies of thymic SHPS-1⁺ cDCs, pDCs and macrophages of CD45.2 origin in each group of mice. a, b Data are representative of two independent experiments (n = 4–5 mice per group and per experiment). c Experimental setup: nucleated blood cells from CD45.1 WT congenic mice and Ccr2^RFP/RFP deficient mice were adoptively transferred into sublethally irradiated CD45.2 WT or Ltα^−/− recipients (ratio 1:1). Thymic entry of donor DCs and macrophages was analysed three days later. SL-TBI: sublethal total body irradiation. d Flow cytometry profiles, frequencies and numbers of CD45.2⁺RFP⁺ and CD45.2⁻RFP⁻ total donor cells in the thymus of WT and Ltα^−/− recipients. e Flow cytometry profiles and numbers of SHPS-1⁺ cDCs, pDCs and macrophages of CD45.2⁻RFP⁻ or CD45.2⁺RFP⁺ donor origin. c–e Data are representative of three independent experiments (n = 4 mice per group and per experiment). b, e MΦ: macrophage. Error bars show mean ± SEM, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, ****p < 0.0001 using unpaired Student’s t-test