Research Article

The Poststroke Peripheral Immune Response Is Differentially Regulated by Leukemia Inhibitory Factor in Aged Male and Female Rodents

Figure 1

LIF treatment increases spleen weight after MCAO in aged animals. Spleen weights were measured after euthanization and normalized to the average spleen weight for sham-operated male () and female animals (). The average spleen size among LIF-treated males () was significantly higher than that among PBS-treated males (; ), but not sham males. Although there was a significant decrease in spleen size after MCAO among female rats (), spleens from LIF-treated female rats were significantly larger than spleens from sham () and MCAO+PBS females (). Furthermore, female MCAO+PBS rats () showed a significantly larger decrease in spleen weight compared to PBS-treated males (). However, LIF-treated females () had significantly larger spleens compared to their male counterparts (). Male sham per treatment group.