Table 2.

Summary of the effects of cocoa diet in lymphocyte composition of lymphoid tissues.

Lymphoid tissue	Cocoa dose	Length of the diet (weeks)	Results (% cells)	Reference
Thymus	10% in the food	3	↓TCRαβlowCD4−CD8−	(29)
			↓TCRαβlowCD4+CD8+
			↑TCRαβhighCD4+CD8−
Spleen	4% by oral gavage	3	No changes	(18)
	10% in the food		↑B
			↓Th
Lymph nodes	4% by oral gavage	3	No changes	(30)
	10% in the food		↑TCRγδ+
			↓Th
			↑Tc
	10% in the food	4	↑NK	(31)
			↑B
			↓TCRαβ+
			↑TCRγδ+ (↑CD8αα+)
			↓Th (↓CD62L+)
			↑Tc (↑CD25+, ↑CD103+, ↓CD62L+)
	10% in the food	6	↓TCRαβ+	(32)
			↓Th
			↑Tc
			=Treg
Peyer’s patches	4% by oral gavage	3	No changes	(30)
	10% in the food		↑B
			↓TCRαβ+
			↑TCRγδ+
			↓Th
	10% in the food	4	↑TCRγδ+	(33)
			↑NKT
			↓Th (↑ CD25+, ↑CD103+, ↓CD62L+)
			=Tc (↑ CD103+)
Intestinal intraepithelium	10% in the food	4	↑TCRγδ+	(33)
			↑NK
			↓TLR4+
			↑CD4+CD103+
Intestinal lamina propria	10% in the food	4	↓NKT	(33)
			↓IgA+

Arrows indicate increases or decreases, equals sign means no changes.

CD, cluster of differentiation; TCRαβ^low, cells with low expression of αβ T-cell receptor; Th, T helper lymphocytes; Tc, T cytotoxic lymphocytes; TCRγδ⁺, cells with γδ T-cell receptor; NK, natural killer cells; NKT, natural killer T cells; Treg, T regulatory cells; TLR, toll-like receptor; Ig, immunoglobulin.