<i>In vivo</i> depletion of alveolar macrophages enhances the host susceptibility 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 of freshly cultured <i>A. baumannii</i>. Five mice from each group were euthanized at 4, 24, 48 and 72 h after the infection. The bacterial burdens in the lung, BAL fluid, and spleen were determined by quantitative bacterial culture. Dashed line indicates lower limit of detection (1.3 log₁₀). Data are presented as mean ± SD (n = 5). **P<0.01.