Experimental design. (a) Mice were fed an iron deficient diet since weaning and throughout the experiment. At the age of 12 weeks, female Alk3fl/fl; Alb-Cre and Alk3fl/fl mice were intraperitoneally injected with 5 × 108 particles/mouse of heat-killed Brucella abortus (BA) or saline. Two weeks later blood and organs were collected. (b) 12 week old Alk3fl/fl; Alb-Cre and Alk3fl/fl female mice fed a regular diet were intravenously inoculated with 1 × 106 colony forming units (CFUs) of Staphylococcus aureus. Twenty-four hours later blood and organs were collected. (TIFF 164 kb
