Figure 5

Disruption of NETs does not influence bacterial dissemination during experimental melioidosis. C57/Bl6 wild-type (WT) mice were intranasal infected with B. pseudomallei (10³ cfu) and either treated with intravenous PBS (control group) or 2,000 U DNase I recombinant (DNase-treated group) at various time points [22]. Compared to control mice, DNase-treated mice show reduced nucleosome levels in plasma (A) and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) (D) after 24 h of infection. Data are expressed as box-and-whisker diagrams depicting the smallest observation, lower quartile, median, upper quartile, and largest observation. Equal bacterial titers were seen in BALF (B), lung homogenates (C), blood (E), and liver homogenates (F) during all time points after infection in the DNase I-treated mice compared to control mice. Median values (straight lines) and the lower limit of detection (dashed lines) are shown. Graphs depict eight mice per group and time point. Statistical significance was determined using the unpaired Mann-Whitney U test. *P < 0.05.