Figure 7.

CD36 null mice are more susceptible to S. aureus and fail to clear circulating bacteria. (a) Wild-type and Cd36 ^−/− mice were inoculated i.v. with S. aureus (capsular strain Reynolds or the unencapsulated 3825-4 strain) or E. coli (018K) and monitored for survival. (b) Cd36^−/− mice fail to effectively clear S. aureus. Blood collected from the tail vein after 4 d was cultured on tryptic soy agar plates supplemented with 5% sheep's blood and the mean colony forming units were counted from each mouse. Representative bacterial plates are presented. (c) Cd36^−/− mice develop perinephric and pericardial abscesses. Necropsies performed on surviving mice showed abundant abscess formation in the hearts and kidneys of Cd36 ^−/− mice (absolute numbers reported in panel a). Arrowhead indicates large abscess in heart.