Figure 2.

A. phagocytophilum infected male mice have higher percentages of peripheral blood neutrophils harboring morulae and greater degrees of splenomegaly than infected female mice. Male and female C57Bl/6 mice were intraperitoneally injected with A. phagocytophilum bacteria. (A) Peripheral blood smears were microscopically examined for neutrophils that contained morulae. Each dot corresponds to the mean percentage of infected neutrophils determined from counting a total of at least 300 neutrophils from three separate blood smears per mouse. Error bars correspond to the mean ± standard deviation of the percentages determined for all seven mice per group. Data are representative of two experiments with similar results; (B) On day 28, the mice were euthanized, the spleens were harvested, and the spleen-to-body weight ratios were calculated. Data are the mean ± standard deviation of the ratios determined from seven mice per group. Statistically significant (* p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, **** p < 0.0001 values are indicated.