Fig. 5.

The spontaneous apoptotic rate and its modulation by pro- or anti-apoptotic agents are not altered in neutrophils devoid of vimentin ex vivo. Neutrophils from vim^+/+, vim^+/− and vim^−/− mice were harvested after lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced air pouch and incubated in vitro for 22 h in the presence of buffer (Ctrl), the pro-apoptotic agents arsenic trioxide (AT, 5 µM) or Viscum album agglutinin-I (VAA-I, 1000 ng/ml) or the anti-apoptotic cytokine granulocyte–macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) (GM, 65 ng/ml) and apoptosis was assessed by flow cytometry by evaluating the number of fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-annexin-V positive cells. (a) Results are means ± standard error of the mean (n = 10 mice/group, four separate experiments) and (b) (n = 5 mice/group, two separate experiments). Inset, representative experiment plotted in the bar graph. Arrows, illustrates the apoptotic cell population. *P < 0·05 versus control (Ctrl) by analysis of variance. No significant differences were observed between wild-type and knock-out mice.