Figure 2. Blood leukocyte counts and phagocytosis activity in cord blood and venous sow blood.

(a) Blood leukocyte counts in cord blood of preterm (n = 92), near-term (n = 21) and term (n = 4) pigs and venous sow blood (n = 11). Blood neutrophil phagocytic rate, demonstrated as proportions of neutrophils exerting phagocytosis, against E. coli (b,c) and S. aureus (d,e) in newborn preterm pigs (n = 60–67), newborn near-term pigs (n = 9–21), their mother sow (n = 3–4), or from preterm blood cells with sow plasma (P cells/S plasma, n = 3), or sow blood cells with preterm plasma (S cells/P plasma, n = 3). (b,d) Representative histogram showing higher proportions of pHrodo+ neutrophils (the gate on the right) following blood challenge with E. coli and S. aureus. Values in the same cell population not sharing similar letters are significantly different (P < 0.01).