Fig. 7. Migration of Langerhans cells from skin explants. Ear skins (dorsal halves, cartilage-free) obtained from SPARC^+/+ and SPARC^–/– mice were cultured in 24-well tissue culture plates (one ear half per well) in the presence of rGM-CSF. (A) Cells that emigrated into the culture medium, were characterized by FACS with monoclonal antibody to Langerin/CD207 and DEC-205 as shown for SPARC^+/+ explants as an example. (B) The mean number of Langerhans cells obtained from the ear skin of SPARC^–/– mice, was significantly higher than that obtained from SPARC^+/+ mice both at 24 and 48 hours of culture. The mean number of Langerhans cells was calculated as total number of collected cells multiplied by the fraction of Langerin/CD207⁺ stained cells. Results are representative of three independent experiments.