Figure 2.

Bacterial clearance in tlr9^−/− mice is reduced after infection with S. aureus via the airways. Bacterial loads after intranasal infection with 1 × 10⁷ CFU S. aureus in (A) lung and (B) BALF of Wt mice (gray) and tlr9^−/− mice (white). Data are expressed as box-and-whisker diagrams depicting the median, the smallest observation, lower quartile, median, upper quartile and largest observation (n = 8 mice per group at each time point). **p < 0.01 and ***p < 0.001 versus Wt mice at the same time point.