Figure 6. IFN-γ to IL-4 ratio in BALB/c mice inoculated with L. intermedia SGS or PBS and challenged with L. braziliensis in the presence of L. intermedia SGS.
Mice were inoculated three times with PBS or SGS. Two weeks after the last inoculation, mice were challenged with 105 L. braziliensis+SGS (equivalent to 1 pair of salivary glands/animal). Two, four and 16 weeks post challenge, draining lymph node cells were collected and stimulated with L. braziliensis+SGS (A) or with SGS alone (B). Culture supernatants were collected and cytokine presence was determined by ELISA. The data represent the means and standard errors of the means from three independent experiments, each performed with five mice per group.