Fig 5. Characterization of pulmonary tissue dendritic cell populations and their adoptive transfer into NRG mice.

(A-D) Freshly harvested conidia from either the AF293 or CEA10 isolate were delivered via aerosolization (12 mL, 1 X 10⁹ conidia/mL) to wild type and Nlrx1-/- mice under immuno-competent or immuno-suppressive conditions including antibody based induction of neutropenia (Ly6G/Ly6C+ depletion), cortisone acetate (CA) treatment, and chemically induced leukopenia (Chemotherapy). Mice were sacrificed on day 3 post inoculation and the number of (AC) CD103+ DCs and (BD) those producing IL-4 was determined via flow cytometry. (A-D) Asterisk denotes statistical significance, P < 0.05 Mann-Whitney U test. Error bars indicate standard deviation. N = 6–10. (E) Survival study post adoptive transfer of wild type and Nlrx1-/- CD103+ dendritic cells into NRG mice inoculated via non-invasive intratracheal instillation of AF293 conidia (10⁷ conidia/ 25μL). (F) Survival study post adoptive transfer of wild type and Nlrx1-/- CD103+ dendritic cells into NRG mice depleted of neutrophils via Ly6G+ depletion (1A8 Clone) one day prior and three days post inoculation. Inoculation occurred by non-invasive intratracheal instillation of AF293 conidia (10⁷ conidia/ 25μL). Statistical significance was determined using the log-rank (Mantel-Cox) test. N = 10 per experimental group.