Figure 4

Renal Mϕs from TACI deficient MRL-Fas/Lpr mice exhibit M2-skewed phenotype. (A) Isolation of Mϕs from kidneys. Kidneys from 12-weeks old mice were first minced and then digested with collagenase. The fraction containing immune cells were isolated after Percoll gradient centrifugation. Dead cells were excluded firstly, the Mϕs were gated as F4/80 and CD11b positive cells and quantified. (B) Phenotypes of Mϕs isolated from kidneys were assessed in flow cytometry. The expression of the M2 markers, IL-4Rα, CD206 and M1 marker CD86 in renal Mϕs was measured by FACS. A representative histogram for each marker is shown. Mean fluorescence intensities of IL-4Rα, CD206 and CD86 staining from 5 female mice per group were plotted. (C) Renal Mϕs were sorted from 12-weeks old mice. Gene expression of M1 and M2-associated markers in the sorted cells was assessed by Q-PCR. ^xp < 0.05 and ^xxxp < 0.001 indicate statistical differences between LPR-TACI+/+ and LPR-TACI+/− mice. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01 and ***p < 0.001 indicate statistical differences between LPR-TACI+/+ and LPR-TACI−/− mice. ^#p < 0.05 and ^##p < 0.01 indicate statistical differences between LPR-TACI+/− and LPR-TACI−/− mice.