Figure 3

Serum levels of immunoglobulin classes after B. pertussis infection. Twenty-four mice per group were inoculated with either B. pertussis or with culture medium only (Mock), mice were subsequently euthanized at one, three or five days post inoculation. Blood was collected for the measurement of serum levels of immunoglobulin classes. C3H mice are presented in red and HcB mice are presented in green. Dashed lines represent mock-inoculated mice and continuous lines represent B. pertussis-inoculated mice. Error bars represent the standard deviation. No significant difference (P > 0.05, Bonferoni, ANOVA) was found between mock- or B. pertussis-inoculated mice of the same mouse strain, except for IgM at day 5 in C3H mice, IgG2a at day 5 in C3H mice, IgG2b at day 3 in HcB mice, IgG3 at day 1 in C3H mice and IgG3 at day 3 in HcB mice. All serum levels were significantly different (P < 0.05, Bonferoni, ANOVA) between the two strains of mice except for IgM at day 5, IgG1 at day 1 and IgG2b at all days for B. pertussis infected HcB mice compared to C3H mice.