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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2013 Oct 12.
Published in final edited form as: Circ Res. 2012 Aug 17;111(9):1190–1197. doi: 10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.112.277475

Figure 4. Effects of nicotine on CD8+CD161+ innate immune cells are discordantbBetween WKY and SHR.

Figure 4

Subpopulations of CD8 and CD161 are shown in WKY and SHR after 48 hours in culture in media alone (Panels A and B respectively) and in media plus nicotine (10 µmoles/L in Panels C and D respectively). After gating for CD3- cells, flow cytometry revealed an increase in the CD8dim/CD 161+ and CD8−/CD161+ populations in SHR (Panel B), compared to WKY (Panel A). Moreover, an inductive effect of nicotine on the CD161a+ immune cell populations is seen in SHR (Panel D) but not in WKY (Panel C). The markers indicate an increase in activated macrophages in SHR that is enhanced by nicotine in contrast to the suppressed values in WKY. This suggests that the proinflammatory effect of nicotine in SHR results from an increase in activated macrophages (CD161+) not seen in WKY. Results presented are representative of three individual experiments.