Fig. 4: Infection triggers degranulation of neutrophils.
From: Neutrophil metalloproteinase driven spleen damage hampers infection control of trypanosomiasis
a Violin plot representing the average scaled expression scores of genes related to NADPH oxidase in N4 mature neutrophils of 14 dpi (red) and naïve (dark blue) mice. b Heatmap showing row-scaled gene expression of selected marker genes35,36,37 involved in activation of NADPH oxidase per cluster in 14 dpi and naïve mice. c Row-scaled expression of selected genes35,36,37 encoding molecules in granules (azurophilic, specific, gelatinase) per cluster in naïve mice and 14 dpi mice. Key marker genes are highlighted with an indicator (*). d Representative immunofluorescence images of frozen thin spleen sections stained with anti-Ly6G (green) and anti-MPO (red) or Ly6G (green) and anti-NE (red). Tissue sections were also stained with anti-Histone H2B (green) and MPO (red). For all sections, the cell nucleus was visualized by DAPI staining (blue). The lower panel shows magnified images of the upper ones. Scale bars equal 50 µm (upper) and 20 µm (lower). For each condition, spleen sections from three individual mice per experimental group were stained, showing one representative result. e Concentrations of MPO, NE, lactoferrin, and lipocalin-2 were measured in spleen extracellular homogenates and plasma by ELISA. Data represent means ± S.D. from one of three representative experiments with 3 mice per experimental group. Samples of naïve mice are indicated in white with a black border and 14 dpi mice in dark gray. A pairwise comparison was conducted between 14 dpi and naïve using an unpaired two-tailed Student’s t-test for analysis, with ns indicating non-significant differences (p ≥ 0.05) (for lactoferrin) or the estimated concentrations were below the detection range of the assay (for MPO), and p < 0.05 considered as statistically significant. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.
