Figure 3.

The sagA gene is required to elicit a proinflammatory response in peritoneal cell‐derived mast cells (PCMCs). (a–b) BMMCs (a) and PCMCs (b) depicted after staining with Toluidine blue. (c–e) 1 × 10⁶ PCMCs/ml were cultured either alone (Untr.) or in the presence of WT (4047) or ΔsagA mutant Streptococcus equi (multiplicity of infection = 10). After 4 hr, conditioned media were harvested and analysed for IL‐6, TNF, and MCP‐1 by ELISA. (f–h) Cells were recovered after 4‐hr incubation of mast cells with bacteria and were analysed by qPCR for expression of the IL6, TNF, and Nr4a3 genes. Expression relative to the housekeeping gene (HPRT) is presented. Data are given as mean values ± standard error of the mean, pooled from three biological replicates. ^** p ≤ .01, ^*** p ≤ .001; n.s., not significant