Dynamics of Lymphocyte Populations during Trypanosoma cruzi Infection: From Thymocyte Depletion to Differential Cell Expansion/Contraction in Peripheral Lymphoid Organs

Figure 1

Lymphocyte subsets in central and peripheral lymphoid organs from T. cruzi acutely infected mice. Male BALB/c mice were infected intraperitoneally with 10² culture-derived trypomastigotes of T. cruzi (Tulahuén strain), and 14 days after infection the subcutaneous lymph nodes (SCLN), mesenteric lymph nodes (MLN), peritoneal cavity cells (PC), and spleen were harvested to perform flow cytometry. Erythrocytes were previously depleted in the spleen cell suspensions by treatment with Tris-buffered ammonium chloride. The total number of (a) double-negative CD4^-CD8^- T cells, (b) double-positive CD4⁺CD8⁺ T cells, (c) single-positive CD4⁺ T cells, and (d) CD8⁺ T cells, (e) CD19⁺IgD^low B cells and (f) CD19⁺IgD^high B cells are indicated for each histogram. Values represent the mean and standard error. The infected group (𝑛=5–14) were compared to noninfected controls (𝑛=4–9) with 𝑡-test, using the program GraphPad Prism 5. Data were considered significant if 𝑃 values were <0.05. *𝑃<0.05, **𝑃<0.01, ***𝑃<0.001.

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