Figure 6.

cLTα^−/− mice exhibit altered lymphocyte profiles in the draining popliteal LN following M. leprae infection in the FP. cB6 (circles) and cLTα^−/− (inverted triangles) FP were inoculated with 6 × 10³ viable M. leprae. At 3, 6, and 9 months post-infection, popliteal LN from individual mice were harvested and single cell suspensions were prepared. For analysis by flow cytometry, the lymphocyte gate was determined based on forward- and side-scatter parameters. Cell numbers obtained from cB6 (7.18 × 10⁶ ± 4.82 × 10⁶, 1.38 × 10⁷ ± 1.61 × 10⁷, and 4.66 × 10⁶ ± 2.34 × 10⁶, at 3, 6, and 9 months, respectively) and cLTα^−/− (2.36 × 10⁶ ± 1.66 × 10⁶, 7.17 × 10⁵ ± 3.76 × 10⁵, and 3.77 × 10⁶ ± 4.15 × 10⁶, at 3, 6, and 9 months, respectively) mice were similar, except at 6 months post-infection when fewer cells were recovered from the deficient mice (P = 0.0152). The percentage of (A) CD3⁺ and B220⁺ cells within the lymphocyte gate, (B) CD3⁺ cells that were CD4⁺ or CD8⁺, and (C) CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ cells expressing CD44^loCD62L^hi (Naïve [Nv]; closed symbols) and CD44^hiCD62L^lo (Effector; open symbols) were determined. Each graph depicts group means ± SE of 4 to 5 mice per group and is representative of two independent experiments. *P ≤ 0.05; **P ≤ 0.01; ***P ≤ 0.001; ****P ≤ 0.0001. Below each graph, scatter plots demonstrate flow cytometry data and percentages of an individual representative mouse from each group.