FIG. 5. Early infiltration of inflammatory innate cells in the first 9 dpc and followed by contraction after 14 dpc correlated with vaccine protection.

The lung infiltration of dendritic cells, alveolar macrophages, eosinophils and neutrophils of vaccinated versus non-vaccinated mice was first analyzed at 7 and 9 dpc. As an extension of this analysis, the infiltration of the same innate cells was examined in acute disease group at 14 dpc and in disseminated, and pulmonary disease groups at 14, 35, and 50 dpc. The absolute numbers of (A) dendritic cells (B) alveolar macrophages, (C) eosinophils, and (D) neutrophils per lungs were determined by flow cytometry. The results are presented as mean values ± SEM for each group of mice (n=4) at each time point postchallenge. Asterisks indicate significant differences in absolute numbers between innate cells of each respective group at 7 and 9 d (*, P < 0.05). The single dagger indicates significant differences between the PD and DD groups (†, P < 0.05), exclamation mark indicates significant differences between the FAD versus the DD groups (!, P < 0.05), and the double dagger indicates significant differences between the FAD and the PD groups (‡, P < 0.05) at 14, 35, or 50 d. The data presented are representative of two independent experiments.