Figure 3.

Bacterial spreading and histopathology of kidneys from plasma prekallikrein (PPK)- or factor XII (FXII)-depleted mice infected with S. pyogenes. Groups of mice were infected subcutaneously (sc.) with 1.6-2×10⁷ colony forming units (CFU)/mouse S. pyogenes AP1. Twenty-four hours after infection, samples were collected and (A) spleen or (B) blood of infected control-antisense-oligonucleotide (ASO) or PPK-ASO treated mice were homogenized and the number of CFU was quantified. Data are presented as means of ten mice per group and were obtained from two independent experiments. *P≤0.05; ***P≤0.0001. (C) Representative kidney tissue sections showing the medullary rays, from non-infected, control-, PPK, or FXII-ASO animals. Sections were stained (MSB-Lendrum) and fibrin depositions (marked by arrows) were detected and scored as described in the Methods section (10 × magnification).