Figure 2. Uptake of wild-type N. meningitidis MC58 bacteria and mutant bacteria lacking NMB0278 (MC58-278), NMB1220 (MC58-1220), or both NMB0278 and NMB1220 (MC58-278-1220) by murine C57BL/6J wild-type (filled bars) and corresponding SR-A^−/− knock-out (open bars) bone marrow-derived macrophages.

Macrophages were seeded on 6-well bacteriological plastic plates at 1×10⁶ cells/well and incubated with RdGnX-labelled ethanol-fixed MC58 or mutants lacking the surface proteins at an MOI of 20∶1 for 2 h at 37°C in the absence of serum. The Mϕ were washed to remove extracellular bacteria, detached using lidocaine/EDTA, and fixed with 4% formaldehyde before analysis by flow cytometry. Each measurement was performed in triplicate, and results are representative of at least three similar assays. The error bars represent standard deviation. Differences are statistically significant and *** indicates p<0.001.