Figure 6.

Phagocytosis of inert particles and fungal conidia is less effective in PMN of CD18^Ly6G cKO mice. Freshly isolated PMN were co-incubated either with nanoparticles (NP), microBeads (A) or with GFP-fluorescent A. fumigatus conidia (AFC) at 37°C with indicated ratios (B). Simultaneous co-incubation at 4°C served to differentiate mere adhesion from temperature-dependent binding. After 30 min and 60 min the frequency of either Cy5 positive NP, PE-positive microBeads (A), or GFP-positive PMN (B) was determined by flow cytometry. Data represent the mean ± SEM of 3 samples analyzed/group. Exemplary flow cytometry data depicting the diminished uptake of GFP-fluorescent conidia by PMN from CD18^Ly6G cKO mice are shown in (C). Statistically significant differences between groups are indicated (*p<0.05, **p<0.005).