Fig. 8.

Neutropenia leads to reduced peritoneal IL-1β production in response to P. aeruginosa. C57BL/6 and ASC^−/− mice were depleted of neutrophils with anti-Ly6G IgG or treated with isotype control antibody (A, C, and D). A: representative analyses of efficacy of neutrophil depletion in circulating blood and spleens from the treatment groups. B: C57BL/6 mice were infected intraperitoneally with the indicated CFU of WT PA14. IL-1β content within the peritoneal lavage samples were subsequently assayed by ELISA(n = 2/group). C and D: C57BL/6 and ASC^−/− mice were treated with isotype control antibody or depleted of neutrophils with anti-Ly6G antibody as described above. Mice were subsequently infected intraperitoneally with 3 × 10⁶ CFU of WT PA14, euthanized 4 h postinfection, and peritoneal lavage and blood samples were collected for IL-1β analysis by ELISA. The peritoneal lavage fluid was analyzed for the total number of recovered CFU normalized to CFU of input bacteria. C: IL-1β from peritoneal lavage (left), blood serum (middle; BL/6, n = 10; ASC^−/−, n = 7) samples and recovered peritoneal CFU from isotype IgG treated mice (right; n = 7/group). D: IL-1β from peritoneal lavage (left), blood serum (right; n = 10/group) and recovered peritoneal CFU from anti-Ly6G treated mice (right; n = 7/group). Data in A, C, and D are expressed as means ± SD and are derived from at least 3 independent biological experiments. **P ≤ 0.05.