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. 2009 Mar 2;4(3):e4667. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0004667

Figure 7. Generation of virus specific plasma and memory B cells in mice immunized with H5N1 VLPs.

Figure 7

A) Generation of virus specific antibody secreting plasma cells. Groups of mice (n = 6) were intranasally immunized with influenza H5N1 VLPs (containing 0.3 µg HA) or PBS buffer at weeks 0 and 4. At 4 weeks post immunization, bone marrow and spleen cells were prepared and in vitro cultured for 18 hrs on plates coated with inactivated rgΔH5N1 virus to detect the antibody secreting cell spots. B) Antibody secreting cells after 3-day culture stimulation. The bone marrow and spleen cells were from the same group of mice as in A except the 3-day in vitro culture. C) Antibody secreting cells after 18 hrs culture. Groups of mice (n = 6) were intranasally immunized once (H5 VLP.1+H5i) or twice (H5 VLP.2+H5i) (weeks 0 and 4) with influenza H5N1 VLPs (containing 0.3 µg HA) or PBS buffer (PBS+H5i) and were administered with inactivated rgΔH5N1 virus (2.5 µg) 6 days earlier before euthanasia. *, ** indicate statistically significant differences between bone marrow and spleen (p<0.05 and p<0.01 respectively) as determined by Student's 2-tailed t-test.