FIG. 3.

Mucosal SEA tolerance is not associated with T-cell deletion, anergy, or apoptosis. Spleen cell suspensions from i.n. OVA-treated (n = 3) and i.n. SEA-treated (n = 3) C57BL/6 mice were analyzed for frequencies of T cells expressing specific T-cell receptor Vβ subsets (a) as well as SEA-induced in vitro proliferation (b) and apoptotic death (c). Data are expressed as the mean ± SD (error bars) of the frequency of CD4⁺ T cells expressing the Vβ3 (striped bars), Vβ6 (white bars), Vβ8.1-8.2 (hatched bars), and Vβ11 (black bars) TCR (a), the in vitro proliferative responses to SEA (b), and the frequency of apoptotic CD4⁺ T cells following in vitro SEA activation (c). Results shown are representative of two experiments giving similar outcomes. Statistical significance for comparison to OVA-tolerized animals: ∗∗, P < 0.01; ∗∗∗, P < 0.001; N.S., not significant.