Neutrophil apoptosis—<i>in vivo</i> infection.

<p>Neutrophils were isolated from the peritoneal cavities of mice 18 h after IP challenge with 10⁸ CFU <i>S. aureus</i> and evaluated immediately or after incubation <i>ex vivo</i> for 6 or 12 h. A) Representative flow cytometric analysis of annexin V binding (A) or TUNEL staining (B) of Ly6G+ neutrophils from NOD mice that had been incubated <i>ex vivo</i> for 6 h. Black line represents unstained neutrophils. (C) Nuclear condensation observed in neutrophils from a diabetic and a nondiabetic mouse 6 h after isolation. White arrows indicate condensed and fragmented nuclei. (D) Quantitative comparison of annexin binding, TUNEL staining and nuclear condensation of neutrophils from age-matched diabetic and nondiabetic animals reveals that neutrophils from diabetic mice show reduced apoptosis compared to neutrophils from nondiabetic mice. Mean percent apoptotic cells ± SEM from 4 to 6 independent experiments are depicted. <i>P</i> values are calculated from pair-wise comparisons of age-matched mice; * indicates <i>P</i><0.05, ** <i>P</i><0.01.