Figure 3.

Cytokine responses induced after intranasal exposure to OVA plus silica particles. BALB/c mice were intranasally exposed to PBS (vehicle control), OVA alone or OVA plus silica particles (250 μg/mouse) on days 0, 1, and 2. On day 21, splenocytes from each group were prepared and cultured with 1 mg/mL OVA. Culture supernatants were harvested after 3 days of incubation, and the level of OVA-induced IL-4 (A) and IL-5 (B) produced and released into the culture supernatant was analyzed using the Bio-Plex Multiplex Cytokine Assay. Data are presented as mean ± SEM (n = 3; *P < 0.05 vs OVA alone; ^†P < 0.05 vs PBS).