Figure 7. Abnormal profile of lung immune cells in Myeloid-Cftr−/− mice in response to lung PsA infection.

Myeloid-Cftr−/− mice and Cftr^fl10 control mice were intubated intratracheally with the agarose-embedded PsA at the sub-lethal dose (1×10⁶ cfu). BAL cells were collected and evaluated for differentials by cytospin and Giemsa staining. At Day 2 after PsA infection, neutrophils were the main constituent of the BAL cells (∼85%) in the lungs of both control mice and myeloid CF mice. In contrast, at Days 3 and 4 neutrophil percent in the Cftr^fl10 control lungs reduced to ∼15% and ∼7%, respectively. However, the percentage of neutrophils in the Myeloid-Cftr−/− lungs dropped only to ∼52% at Day 3 and ∼39% at Day 4, which still remained dominant. Asterisks indicate statistically significant differences by Student’s t-test (n = 4, p<0.01).