Figure 6

Significant strain heterogeneity of respiratory T and B lymphocytes, NK cells, γδ T cells and Lin^negleukocytes. Dissection of respiratory lymphocyte subsets suggests elevated CD3 T cell and CD4 T helper cell numbers in BALB/c mice (A, B). CD8+ T cell frequencies are elevated in C57BL/6 (BL6) mice when compared to either C3H or DBA mice (C). Putative T regulatory cell (CD4+CD25+ T cells) numbers are significantly elevated in 129SV mice compared to BL6 or C3H strains (D). Please note that the CD4⁺CD25⁺ T cells are not CD25^high. A more detailed gating strategy of Treg subsets including isotpye controls is shown in Figure 8. B lymphocyte numbers are significantly elevated in BL6 mice (E). Natural killer (NK) cells and γδ T cell numbers are elevated in C3H and DBA strains (F, G). BALB/c and 129SV mice are rich in Lin-^neg CD90⁺ leukocytes (H) whereas C3H mice exhibit high numbers of Lin-^neg CD90^neg leukocytes (I). Results are representative for n≥ 8 (A, B, C, F, G) or n ≥ 5 (D, E) independent animals per strain (mean ± SEM; *p<0.05; **p<0.01; ***p<0.001).