Flow cytometry analysis of bone marrow and thymus of C57BL/6 and Tacr1−/− mice.

Cells were stained with a combination of antibodies commonly used for the analysis of immune cells. Flow cytometry was performed on FACSCalibur (BD Biosciences, Mississauga, Canada) and data analysis was conducted using Cell Quest Pro. All experiments were performed using female mice, 8–12 weeks old. Each experiment included age-matched sets of knockout and wild-type mice. Statistical analysis was performed using Prism Graph Pad. Student's t-tests revealed no significant differences in total cellularity or in cell populations between C57BL/6 and Tacr1−/− mice. Mean cell number (×106) for bone marrow and thymus respectively were: C57BL/6 (n = 10) 79.2±5.6, 168.1±17.2 and Tacr1−/− (n = 11) 90.4±4.3, 125.7±15.1. Data are presented as mean of % gated±SE.