FIG. 8.

Cytolytic activity of CD8⁺ T cells is reduced in HSV-2-infected CXCR3^−/− mice. WT and CXCR3^−/− female mice (six mice/group) were infected with HSV-2 (2,000 PFU/vagina. On day 7 p.i., mice were exsanguinated, and spinal cords and ILN were processed and assessed for CTL activity. (A) Representative flow histograms showing background PI incorporation into CFSE-labeled HSV-2-infected target cells incubated without effector cells, effector cells incubated without HSV-2-infected target cells, target cells incubated with uninfected WT splenocytes (SC), and cytolytic activity of effector cells from spinal cords and lymph nodes (LN) of WT mice and CXCR3^−/− mice. (B) Preparations from spinal cords (left) and ILN (right) were assayed for CTL activity at an effector-to-target cell ratio of 10:1. The dotted line indicates the background PI incorporation in CSFE-labeled targets cells. The bars represent the means ± standard errors of the means from two independent experiments. *, P was <0.05 when comparing WT and CXCR3^−/− mice.