Figure 4. LNG reduces DC activation elicited by Chlamydia infection.

(a) LNG or matching placebo pellets were implanted into Balb/cJ female mice, and peripheral blood collected 5 days later to measure serum LNG concentrations. (b) Serum LNG levels; symbols represent values from individual mice and horizontal lines indicate means. (c–d) Other mice implanted with pellets as described in (a) were i.n. infected with 10⁵ IFU of live C. trachomatis. Mice were euthanized at 2 dpi, and DLNs collected to assess DC activation by flow cytometry. Representative contour plots show (c) CD40 and CD80 expression in live CD11c^hiMHC-II⁺CD8α^-CD11b⁺ cells (mDCs); numbers denote percent expression. (d) mDC expression of CD40 and CD80 from placebo- or LNG-pelleted mice from two independent experiments with 6 mice per condition; bars designate mean values ± S.D. Statistical analyses performed with 2-tailed unpaired Student t tests.