Phenotypic characteristics of Mtb inoculum and during macrophage infection.

<p>(A) Representative image of intracellular Mtb stained with Auramine O and Nile Red, counted as either Auramine O-positive (thin arrow), Nile Red-positive (arrowhead) or as positive for both stainings (thick arrow). Scale bar: 5 µm. (B) Percentage of bacteria stained with Auramine O, Nile Red or both in the inoculum. n = 3. (C) Percentage of Auramine O/Nile Red-positive intracellular bacteria, using hMDMs from 20 different donors. Significant changes were determined using 1-way ANOVA comparison followed by Bonferroni’s multiple comparison test. *p<0.05. Bars and error bars represent means and SEMs respectively.