TABLE 2.

Effect of protein L treatment on B-cell populations in the spleens of transgenic mice

B-cell sub- population	Mean cell number (106) ± SEa
	Control untreated mice	HEL-treated mice	Protein L-treated mice
NF	4.70 ± 2.9	0.98 ± 0.3	0.86 ± 0.3*
T1	3.29 ± 2.2	3.99 ± 1.3	2.34 ± 0.9
T2	5.08 ± 2.2	3.36 ± 1	1.98 ± 0.4
M	1.80 ± 0.7	2.23 ± 0.4	2.12 ± 0.5
MZ	1.87 ± 0.4	1.17 ± 0.2	0.54 ± 0.1***
FO	1.74 ± 0.3	2.62 ± 0.4	1.66 ± 0.4

^aCell numbers are shown. B-cell subpopulations were identified by the expression of cell surface markers as follows: T1, B220⁺ IgM⁺ CD21⁻; T2, B220⁺ IgM⁺ CD21⁺; M, B220⁺ IgM^low CD21^low; MZ, B220⁺ CD23^−/low CD21⁺; FO, B220⁺ CD23⁺ CD21⁺; and NF, B220⁺ CD23⁻ CD21⁻. *, P < 0.05; **, P < 0.02; ***, P < 0.01. P values were determined by using the Mann-Whitney U test.