Figure 5.

Phagocytosis and killing of NTHi bacteria was assessed in peritoneal macrophages from WT, NOD1^−/−, and NOD2^−/− mice by quantifying the colony counts remaining after loading with NTHi and then 1 h (phagocytosis) or 3 h (killing) incubation with gentamicin to destroy all extracellular bacteria. Bars represent bacteria recovered after lysis of the macrophages. Values at 1 h were comparable across strains. However, significantly fewer NTHi were observed after 3 h for NOD1^−/− macrophages, suggesting enhanced intracellular killing. Experiments were performed in triplicate and expressed as mean ± SEM. *Significantly different than WT mice (P < 0.05).