15∼0.3 mL of PBS/mouse) was injected slowly into the area surrounding the nostrils after i.p. injection of 0.25 mL of pentobarbital/ethanol/PBS (0.8 mL/2 mL/8 mL). The following antibodies were used in this study: mouse IgE and IgG Abs from Zymed (San Francisco, CA, USA); rat anti-mouse IgE and IgG Abs from Biosource (Camarillo, CA, USA); HRP-labeled Selleck ACP-196 goat anti-mouse IgE and IgG Abs from Nordic (Tilburg, the Netherlands)

and Cappel (Aurora, OH, USA); FITC-labeled rat anti-mouse CD14 (Sa2–8) Abs from eBioscience (San Diego, CA, USA); and Alexa Fluor 647-conjugated rat anti-mouse CCR3 (83103) Abs, PE-labeled rat anti-mouse CD3 (145–2C11), CD4 (RM4–4), CD11b/Mac-1 (M1/70), Ly-6G (1A8), CD45R/B220 (RA3–6B2), and IgM (R6–60.2) Abs and FITC-labeled rat anti-mouse Ly-6G (1A8), CD3 (145–2C11), CD8 (53–6.7), CD11b/Mac-1 (M1/70), and CD11c (HL3) Abs from PharMingen (San Diego, CA, USA).

Blood samples were taken by cardiac puncture under chloroform anesthesia at various time intervals after i.n. injection of cedar pollen extract-Cry j with or without complete Freund’s adjuvant. The whole blood was incubated in a CO2 incubator at 37°C for 1 hr, stood overnight at 4°C, and then centrifuged at 440 g for 20 min. The supernatant fraction was stored in microtubes at − 20°C prior to use. Mice were anesthetized with chloroform and then bled from the inferior vena cava. After exsanguination, they were decapitated along the line between the upper and lower jaws. The facial

skin was stripped from the head and the nose component separated from the rest of the head along the line of the eyeballs. A segment containing the tip selleck chemicals of the Dehydratase nose and fore-teeth was severed from the rest of the specimen. After removal of the cheek muscles, cheek bones, and back teeth, NALT, which localize bilaterally on the posterior side of the palate, was separated from the rest of the nasal tissue by peeling the palate away. The excised palates were immediately placed into a 60 mm Petri dish containing stainless mesh on ice and 3 mL of ice-cold PBS with 5 mM EDTA. Using a dissection microscope (Nikon; Tokyo, Japan), the NALT was teased gently into the medium with syringe needles to release the cells, which were harvested by using siliconized Pasteur pipettes. Other lymphoid tissues such as submandibular, axillary, inguinal or mesenteric lymph nodes and Peyer’s Patches were removed aseptically; and single-cell suspensions prepared from them as described earlier (14). To evaluate lymphoid organ(s) responsive to i.n. injected allergen, we injected 2% Evans blue in PBS (2 mL/kg) i.n. and allowed it to permeate the neighboring lymphoid organs for 20 min. The mice were then anesthetized with chloroform and bled from the inferior vena cava. After exsanguination, NALT was separated from the rest of the nasal tissue and the skin covering the submandibular lymph nodes excised. The lymphoid organs stained by Evans blue were examined macroscopically.