Figure 8.

IL-6 and MCP-1 production in BALB/c mice challenged by intraperitoneal injection of 0.5 ml protoplast buffer plus soft agar (3/1; v/v) containing 100 cfu parental (P) L. monocytogenes, 10⁸ cfu L-forms as high dose (L^hi) or 10⁵ cfu L-forms as low dose (L^lo). Control animals received 0.5 ml protoplast buffer plus soft agar (3/1; v/v) alone. Cytokine mRNA expression values were normalized to the GAPDH house keeping gene. Cytokine protein values are indicated in pg/ml determined by an internal standard. Dotted lines indicate the limit of detection. Statistical analysis was performed using the unpaired Student's t-test (two tailed, 95% confidence interval) comparing all treatment groups to the control: ^*P < 0.05, ^**P < 0.005, ^***P < 0.0005.