Figure 3.

Enhanced accumulation of perforin-deficient NK cells following MCMV infection in Prf1^−/−/C57BL/6 chimeric mice. (A) Mixed bone-marrow chimeric mice were prepared by transferring a 1:1 mixture of C57BL/6 (CD45.1⁺) and Prf1^−/− (CD45.2⁺) bone-marrow cells to γ-irradiated CD45.1 × CD45.2 mice. Chimeric mice were i.p. injected with 5 × 10⁵ PFU of WT or Δm157 MCMV and euthanized 7 days p.i. (B) Representative dot plot showing reconstitution efficiency of bone-marrow chimera. (C) Frequency of NK cells and (D) CD8⁺T cells in spleen (left) and liver (right) of Prf1^−/−/C57BL/6 chimeric mice is shown. Representative data of two independent experiments with three to five mice per group are shown. Data are presented as means ± SEM. Asterisks denote significant values: *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001.