FIG. 3.

Dextromethorphan increases the viability and reduces the apoptosis of infiltrating cells in the air pouch of GAS-infected mice. Mice were inoculated with 3 × 10⁸ CFU of NZ131 with or without the administration of DM 30 min before and 1, 12, and 24 h after NZ131 infection. The air pouch exudates were collected 24 and 48 h (A and B) or 48 h (C and D) after NZ131 infection. The infiltrating cell numbers (A), cell viability determined by trypan blue staining (B) (at 24 h, n = 9 per group without or with DM treatment; at 48 h, n = 5 per group of GAS with saline and n = 7 per group of GAS with DM), and apoptosis determined by PI staining (C and D) were determined. A set of representative histograms is shown (C), and means ± standard deviations (SD) of air pouch exudates from six mice per group are shown (D) (*, P < 0.05; **, P < 0.01).