Nonbilayer Phospholipid Arrangements Are Toll-Like Receptor-2/6 and TLR-4 Agonists and Trigger Inflammation in a Mouse Model Resembling Human Lupus

Figure 6

Dendritic, B1, and B2 cells are activated in mice with an autoimmune disease resembling human lupus. To analyze the percentage and activation of immune cells, cell suspensions from the spleens of mice injected with TS buffer, liposomes alone, or liposomes incubated with Mn or CPZ were labeled with antibodies and analyzed by flow cytometry. Gating strategy for the identification of activated CD4 (CD3⁺, CD4⁺, CD8⁻, and CD69⁺) (a–c) and CD8 (CD3⁺, CD4⁻, CD8⁺, and CD69⁺) (a, b, and d) T cells; NKT cells (CD3⁺, NK1.1⁺) (e, f); activated dendritic cells (MHCII⁺, CD11c⁺⁺, CD80⁺, and CD86⁺) (g, h); activated B1 (CD19⁺, CD5⁺, and CD69⁺) and B2 (CD19⁺, CD5⁻, and CD69⁺) cells; and expression of TLR-4 (i–k). Percentage of total NKT (n); total and activated CD4 (l) and CD8 (m) T cells, dendritic cells (o), and B1 (p) and B2 (q) cells. The expression of TLR-4 was evaluated on B1 (p) and B2 (q) cells. Kruskal-Wallis test with Dunn’s post-test was used for statistical analysis; significance was set at . Asterisks represent statistically significant differences between the indicated groups (, ).

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