Fig. 5: The pDC-Tom mice allow studying pDC microanatomical location in the spleen.
a–c, Spleen cryosections, 20 μm, from steady-state pDC-Tom mice stained with anti-tdT (magenta), anti-CD169 (white), anti-CD3 (green) and anti-F4/80 (blue) antibodies, combined with anti-CD11c (red) and anti-BST-2 (cyan) antibodies (a, TCZ and b, RP) or an anti-B220 (yellow) antibody (c). Representative images of four sections from two animals are shown, for the TCZ (a), the RP (b) and the whole section (c), with the left panel corresponding to the raw signal and the right panel to the pDC mask used for quantification (black) relative to the location of the TCZ (green area, based on anti-CD3 staining). d, The number of tdT+ cells mm−2 of the whole spleen sections was quantified in pDC-Tom mice, in comparison to wild-type animals as background controls. The data shown are from eight whole sections from two C57BL/6 mice and 12 whole sections from three pDC-Tom mice. e,f, Microanatomical distribution of pDCs across the different areas of the spleen, namely the TCZ (CD3-rich region), BCZ (B220-rich region), RP (F4/80-rich area) and MZ (defined as the space between the CD169 staining and the F4/80 staining). e, Fraction of the pDC population present in each microanatomical area (calculated as the ratio between the pDC counts in the area and the total pDC counts in the whole section). f, The pDC density (cells mm−2) in each microanatomical area. The data shown are from 11 sections from three mice for TCZ and BCZ, and four sections from three mice for MZ and RP. The height of the colored boxes shows the mean value for each microanatomical area. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used for the statistical analysis, *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001, ****P < 0.0001.
