Figure 3. Decrease in parasite biomass and IRBC accumulation in organs from CD8⁺ T cell-depleted WT mice.

In vivo bioluminescence imaging quantification of IRBC accumulation in the whole body (A) and head (B) of mice infected with PbAluc and depleted of either CD4⁺ or CD8⁺ T cells by antibody treatment. Ex vivo quantification by bioluminescence imaging of IRBC accumulation in spleens (C) and brains (D). Data are expressed as mean ± SD. In this experiment, all the control (n = 10) and CD4⁺-depleted (n = 5) mice infected with PbAluc developed ECM between days 7 and 12, and none of the anti-CD8⁺-treated (n = 10) infected mice developed CM. On each day that a control-infected mouse developed CM, one CD4 depleted- and one CD8-depleted mouse were sacrificed to determine IRBC accumulation ex vivo. Luminescence values (log) as mean ± SD of 5 mice. *p<0.05, **p<0.01 and ***p<0.001, ANOVA followed by Bonferroni test.