Leukocyte counts of BAL fluid

BAL samples were mixed gently prior to diluting 50 ml BAL fluid with 50 ml of trypan blue (1:5 in 1xPBS) for viable cell counts. 20 ml of diluted cell sample were pipetted on a Cellometer counting chamber. Leukocytes were automatically counted using a Cellometer Auto T4 (Nexcelom Bioscience, Lawrence, MA, USA)