Figure 4. Characterization of the splenocytes after rat islet transplantation into the bone marrow.

The splenocytes of transplanted and naive animals were harvested seven days after transplantation. The absolute number of splenocytes was not significantly different compared to naive mice; data are shown for individual animals with the horizontal line representing the mean value (A). The percentages of CD4⁺, CD8⁺ and F4/80⁺ cells were not significantly different either. Box-and-whisker diagram are shown (B). However, splenocytes of transplanted mice showed a significantly increased level of proliferation compared to naive mice when stimulated by donor (T cell-depleted) rat irradiated splenocytes. Results are expressed in counts per minute and show the mean value of 4 naive and 6 transplanted animals (C). Abbreviation. Tx: transplanted. CPM: Count per minutes.