Figure 5.

Immediate splenectomy, but not delayed splenectomy, reduces peripheral immune cell infiltration into the ischemic brain. Rats were subjected to 90 min MCAO followed by immediate splenectomy or delayed splenectomy (3d after MCAO) as described in Materials and Methods. (A) Representative gating strategy for CD45⁺ leukocytes, CD45⁺CD3⁺CD45RA^- T cells, CD45⁺CD3^-CD45RA⁺ B cells, and CD45⁺CD43⁺ monocytes. (B-E) Flow cytometry analysis on the number of immune cell infiltration at 3 days after MCAO and immediate splenectomy. (B) Quantification of the number of CD45⁺ leukocytes. (C) Quantification of the number of CD45⁺CD3⁺CD45RA^- T cells. (D) Quantification of the number of CD45⁺CD3^-CD45RA⁺ B cells. (E) Quantification of the number of CD45⁺CD43+ monocytes. (F-I) Flow cytometry analysis on the number of immune cell infiltration in rats with or without delayed splenectomy at 5 days after MCAO. (F) Quantification of the number of CD45⁺ leukocytes. (G) Quantification of the number of CD45⁺CD3⁺CD45RA^- T cells. (H) Quantification of the number of CD45⁺CD3^-CD45RA⁺ B cells. (I) Quantification of the number of CD45⁺CD43⁺ monocytes. n=6 rats per group. Values are mean ± SEM. ^#p<0.05, ^##p<0.01 by 2-tailed Student’s t test.