FIG. 3.

Radiolabeled spore clearance in lungs. Both BALB/c and C57BL/6J mice clear radiolabeled spores from the lungs over 7 days (p = 0.04, repeated measures analysis). BALB/c mice appear to retain more spores and/or spore components in the lung, although this difference is not statistically significant (p = 0.08, repeated measures analysis). ³H is cleared faster than ¹⁴C (p = 0.0001, repeated measures analysis). N = 3–6 mice per time point and strain. (A) Mean percent of administered ³H-thymidine (log scale) detected in whole digested lung and trachea ± SE versus time (log scale) after IT administration (hours). The equation that best describes the clearance of ³H in BALB/c mice is log(y) = 1.64 − 0.20 log(x) (data are linear, p = 0.05) and for C57BL/6J mice it is log(y) = 1.57 – 0.32 log(x) (data are linear, p = 0.01). (B) Mean percent of administered ¹⁴C-glucose (log scale) detected in whole digested lung and trachea ± SE versus time (log scale) after administration (hours). For ¹⁴C, the equation that best describes the clearance in BALB/c mice is log(y) = 1.84 − 0.08 log(x) (error in data is too large to determine linearity, p = 0.14) and for C57BL/6J mice it is log(y) = 1.76 – 0.21 log(x) (data are linear, p = 0.03).