Fig. 1.

Localization of acellular pertussis vaccine in the upper and lower respiratory system after IN vaccination. a Schematic of vaccine tracking protocol. CD-1 mice were intranasally vaccinated with either fluorescent DTaP alone (IN-aP) or fluorescent DTaP with curdlan (IN-caP). Vaccine particle deposition in the lungs and nasal cavity was measured at 0, 6, 12, 24, and 48 h after immunization. b Representative image of Alexa Fluor labeled DTaP vaccine particles. c Representative images of nasal cavity fluorescence at 6, 12, and 24 h. The region of interest used for fluorescence quantification is shown in blue. (d) Fluorescence measurements normalized to PBS control at 6, 12, and 24 h (n = 4). Results shown as mean ± SEM of total radiant efficiency, *P < 0.05. P values were determined by multiple T-tests with Holm-Sidak post hoc test between IN-aP and IN-caP vaccinated mice. e Representative plots at 12 h showing live, single cells that are CD11b⁺DTaP⁺. f Flow cytometric analysis of CD11b⁺ cells from the lung that contain or are bound to DTaP particles at 6, 12, 24, and 48 h post immunization. Results shown as mean ± SEM, *P < 0.05, ***P < 0.001, ****P < 0.0001 (n = 4). P values were determined by one-way ANOVA with Dunnett’s post hoc test comparing IN-aP immunized mice to control mock vaccinated mice