Depletion of alveolar macrophages alters early proinflammatory cytokine and chemokine responses to i.n. <i>A. baumannii</i> challenge.

<p>Groups of C57BL/6 mice were i.n. treated with either clodronate-liposomes to deplete alveolar macrophages or PBS-liposomes as treatment controls. Twenty-four hours later, all mice were i.n. infected with 1×10⁸ CFU freshly cultured <i>A. baumannii</i>. The mice were euthanized at 4 h after the infection and their lungs were lavaged. The concentrations of indicated cytokines/chemokines in the BAL fluid were measured using the mouse panel of Fluorokine MAP Multiplex kits on a Luminex 100 IS system. The detection limit for all cytokines and chemokines is <10 pg/ml. Data are presented as means ± SD (n = 5). ***P<0.01 vs. PBS-treated mice.