Leishmania major Infection in Humanized Mice Induces Systemic Infection and Provokes a Nonprotective Human Immune Response
Figure 1
Humanized mice infected with Leishmania major showed dose dependent footpad swelling, weight loss, survival, and parasite infestation.
Humanized mice (A, C, E) and BALB/c (B, D, F) mice (at the age of 3 months) were infected with different numbers of L. major parasites and were weekly monitored for footpad swelling (A; n = 11 and B n = 9), weight changes (C; n = 11), survival (D; n = 15). The amount of L. major parasites was normalized to human β-actin in 3×106 L. major infected humanized mice (D; n = 7 in spleen, liver, lung and bone marrow; n = 6 in kidney; n = 4 in footpad; n = 3 in lymph node). Three 3×106 L. major infected BALB/c mice served as control and parasite load was normalized to mouse β-actin (Figure 1F). Error bars represent means ± SEM (standard error of the mean). Significances between groups were analyzed in one-way Anova (A** = p = 0,0013). Additionally significances between groups are marked with ** (p<0,01) analyzed with Tukey's Multiple Comparison Test. Survival curve was analyzed by Log-rank (Mantel-Cox) Test (* = p<0,05).