Figure 4. Lung CD11c^high cells permit progressive pulmonary infection.

(A) Uninfected mice were injected with 100 ng diphtheria toxin (DTx) i.p. every other day for up to 12 days. Results are representative of 5 independent experiments. (B) Lung homogenates of bone marrow chimeric recipients (CD45.1) that received congenic (CD45.2) WT control or CD11c-DTR bone marrow were assayed by flow cytometry for reconstitution of hematopoietic cells. Results are the mean±SEM of 2 experiments with 5-18 mice/group. (C) The efficiency of CD11c⁺ cell depletion in DTx treated mice after reconstitution with WT or CD11c-DTR bone marrow. The percent of alveolar macrophages and DCs and the absolute cell numbers following depletion are shown in flow plots (left) and a bar graph (right). Results are representative of 3 experiments with 5 mice per group. (D) Lung CFU of DTx- or PBS-control treated chimeric WT and CD11c-DTR mice 6 days and 10 days post infection with mCherry 14081 spores. Results are representative of 2 experiments with 3 chimeric mice per group. *P<0.05, **P<0.01, ****P <0.0001.