Table 1.

Antimicrobial activity (in ×10³ CFU) of WT and Hfe-deficient macrophages

Bacterial load	Hfe+/+	Hfe+/−	Hfe−/−
2 h after infection	370.67 ± 22.57	364.67 ± 40.20	367.33 ± 29.37
6 h after infection	260.67 ± 15.69	245.33 ± 14.32	233.33 ± 13.66
16 h after infection	86.83 ± 3.59	55.50 ± 4.64*	41.75 ± 3.67†
24 h after infection	25.36 ± 1.16	11.94 ± 0.57‡	10.02 ± 0.56§

WT, Hfe^+/−, and Hfe^−/− macrophages were challenged with S Typhimurium WT strain at a MOI of 5, and their antimicrobial activity was evaluated by enumeration of surviving bacteria at indicated times. Data were log-transformed and compared by ANOVA and shown as mean ± SEM for 5 independent experiments.

WT indicates wild-type; MOI, multiplicity of infection; and ANOVA, analysis of variance.

^*P = .002 for the comparison of WT and Hfe^+/− macrophages.

^†P < .001 for the comparison of WT and Hfe^−/− macrophages.

^‡P < .001 for the comparison of WT and Hfe^+/− macrophages.

^§P < .001 for the comparison of WT and Hfe^−/− macrophages.