Depletion of Neutrophils Exacerbates the Early Inflammatory Immune Response in Lungs of Mice Infected with Paracoccidioides brasiliensis

Figure 6

Neutrophils are an important source of IFN-γ and IL-17. BALB/c mice were intranasally inoculated with PBS or P. brasiliensis (Pb18) yeast cells and analyzed during the acute phase of P. brasiliensis infection (96 h postchallenge). (a) Representative flow cytometry contour plots of CD45⁺- and neutrophils- (CD45⁺/CD11b⁺/Gr1⁺/Ly6G⁺-) IFN-γ-producing cells subpopulations at 96 h after infection are shown. Numbers inside the gates indicate the mean percentages of the gated subsets. (b) Bar plots of CD45⁺- and neutrophils- (CD45⁺/CD11b⁺/Gr1⁺/Ly6G⁺-) IFN-γ-producing cells per lung. (c) Representative flow cytometry contour plots of CD45⁺- and neutrophils- (CD45⁺/CD11b⁺/Gr1⁺/Ly6G⁺-) IL-17-producing cells subpopulations at 96 h after infection are shown. Numbers inside the gates indicate the mean percentages of the gated subsets. (d) Bar plots of CD45⁺- and neutrophils- (CD45⁺/CD11b⁺/Gr1⁺/Ly6G⁺-) IL-17-producing cells per lung. Data shown represent median and IQR (-5 mice/group; representative of two independent experiments). comparing infected versus control mice. PBS, control mice; Pb18, infected mice.

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