B6.129s4 ccr2tm1ifc j

Female wild-type C57BL/6JRj mice were purchased from Janvier Labs. CCR2-deficient (B6.129S4-Ccr2^tm1Ifc/J), CCR2^RFP [B6.129(Cg)-Ccr2^tm2.1Ifc/J], and C57BL/6NCrl mice were bred and maintained at the Lund University Clinical Research Center (CRC), Malmö. B6.129S4-Ccr2^tm1Ifc/J and B6.129(Cg)-Ccr2^tm2.1Ifc/J were originally purchased from The Jackson Laboratory. B6.129S4-Ccr2^tm1Ifc/J were crossed with C57BL/6NCrl mice, originally obtained from Charles River lab, to generate CCR2^+/− mice for CCR2^+/− × CCR2^−/− breeding. Littermate controls were used for experiments involving CCR2^+/− and CCR2^−/− mice.

Eight to ten weeks old CCR2^−/− and CCR2^+/+ were bred in the animal facility in the Rega Institute for Medical Research, KU Leuven. Previously, CCR2^−/− mice were bought from The Jackson Laboratory (B6.129S4-Ccr2tm1Ifc/J; #004999; Bar Harbor, ME, USA) and CCR2^+/+ C57BL/6J mice from Charles River (JAX™ C57BL/6J SOPF Mice; #680; Ecully, France). Knockout and wild type mice were mated to generate F1 heterozygotes that were inter-crossed to create littermates. All animals were maintained with ad libitum water and food (Ssniff Spezialdiäte, Soest, Germany), in a 12 h dark–light cycle and kept in a controlled environment. All the experiments were performed within the norms of the European Union (directive 2010/63/EU) and the Belgian Royal Decree of 29/05/13. They were approved by the Animal Ethics Committees of KU Leuven (P101/2020) and UFMG (420/2018).