To obtain splenocytes, freshly isolated spleens were mashed through a 40 µm cell strainer with the plunger of a 1 ml syringe. Subsequently, the cell pellet was resuspended in 3 ml of ammonium-chloride-potassium lysis buffer (155 mM ammonium chloride; 19 mM potassium hydrogen carbonate and 0.68 mM EDTA; pH 7.27) and gently shaken for 3 minutes to lyse erythrocytes.
Lamina propria mononuclear cells (LPMCs) were isolated from the colon using the Lamina Propria Dissociation Kit (Miltenyi Biotec) according to the manufacturer’s instructions followed by Percoll density gradient centrifugation (GE Healthcare).
Peripheral blood was taken from the facial vein. In order to remove erythrocytes, 2 ml of 1x BD Pharm Lyse™ lysing solution (BD Bioscience) was added to 100 µl of whole blood and incubated for 15 minutes at room temperature.