FIGURE 2.

DM^−/− and DM^−/−Ii^−/− BALB/c mice are protected from systemic parasite spread and clear parasite load in FP. Age-matched, BALB/c/J wild-type, DM^−/−, Ii^−/−, and DM^−/−Ii^−/− were infected in one hind FP as described in Fig. 1 and in Materials and Methods. Three to five mice from each group were sacrificed at the time points indicated postinfection. The data shown are from individual mice from two to three different experiments. FP, spleens, and livers were homogenized and cultured in limiting dilution and the parasite numbers were calculated as described before (25, 26) and in the supplemental materials. Horizontal bars represent the geometric means of data at a given time point. All wild-type and the Ii^−/− mice had to be sacrificed at day 52 due to their large FP sizes except one rare wild-type mouse that we were able to analyze on day 78 postinfection. Note that the DM^−/− and DM^−/−Ii^−/− BALB/c mice have cleared parasites in spleens and livers and have controlled parasite numbers to between 100 and 800 in the FP by day 90 postinfections. Wild-type (●), Ii^−/− (▲), DM^−/− (■) and DM^−/−Ii^−/− (▼).