Figure 2

Relative expression of cytokine genes in eqPBMC incubated in the presence of G3, FliC or Pam3CSK4, alone or in combination. The PBMC were collected from twelve horses and cultured in the presence of G3 (n = 12), FliC (n = 8), Pam3CSK4 (n = 7), G3 + FliC (n = 8) and G3 + Pam3CSK4 (n = 7). The horses (nos. 1–12) were sampled four at a time at three occasions (a, b and c). Results from each horse are shown as indicated in the footnote to the heat map (i, ii, and iii). The cytokine gene expression was normalized to the geometric mean for the reference genes (SDHA and RPL32) and calibrated to that in the medium control. Five shades of green colour represent up-regulation ranging between FC > 2 (the brightest green) and FC > 32 (the darkest green). Grey and yellow colour represents no differential expression and down-regulation (FC < 0.5), respectively.