Bacterial burden and IL-12, TNF-α, IFN-γ and IL-17 production in <i>Brucella</i>-infected IL-10 KO mice.

<p>Five wild-type or IL-10 KO mice were infected i.p. with a dose of 10⁶ CFU of <i>B. abortus</i> for bacterial burden analysis or a dose of 10⁹ CFU of <i>B. abortus</i> for serum cytokine analysis. (A) Spleens were harvested at 1, 2, 3, 6 or 14 weeks post-infection, and the number of CFU in disrupted tissue was determined by 10-fold serial dilution and plating. Statistically significant differences in CFU of IL-10 KO compared to wild-type mice are denoted by an asterisk (p<0.05). IL-12 (B), IFN-γ (C), IL-17 (D) or TNF-α (E) production in mice sera were measured by ELISA at 24 hours postinfection. Error bars represent the mean ±SD. Similar results were obtained in four-independent experiments. Statistically significant differences of cytokine levels from IL-10 KO mice compared to wild-type are denoted by an asterisk (p<0.05) and statistically significant differences to time 0 hour are denoted by & (p<0.05).