Figure 3.

Early T cell depletion does not reduce disease severity in mouse cytomegalovirus (MCMV)‐infected wild‐type (WT) BALB/c mice. Phosphate‐buffered saline (PBS), anti‐CD4‐antibodies alone or combined with anti‐CD8‐antibodies were injected intraperitoneally on days −1 and 2 post‐infection (p.i.). (a) Percentage change in body weight relative from initial weight at day −1 p.i. Median with interquartile range of four to five mice per group. Weight change differed significantly between WT MCMV aCD4 + 8 and untreated WT MCMV on day 4 p.i. (*) and between WT MCMV aCD4 and untreated WT MCMV on day 5 p.i. (*). (b) Rectal body temperature (temp.) (°C) at day 2 p.i. Dotted line = 38·5°C. (c) Absolute platelet count in whole blood. (d) Plasma concentration of the ferritin heavy chain (ng/ml). Dots represent the average of two dilutions for one mouse. (e) Plasma concentration of sCD25 (pg/ml). (f) Plasma concentration of alanine transaminase (ALT) (IU/l). (g and h) Percentage of singlet, live lymph node‐derived CD4⁺ T cells positive for CD69 or CD25. (i,j) Percentage of CD4⁺ or CD8⁺ T cells in inguinal lymph nodes (LN), gated as CD4⁺ or CD8⁺ cells of live singlet cells. (k) Titre of infectious virus in spleen [plaque‐forming units (pfu) per mg tissue]. (c–k) Data obtained on day 5 p.i. (b–c,e–k) Dots represent individual animals. Horizontal bars refer to median values. aCD4 = anti‐CD4‐antibodies, aCD4 + 8 = anti‐CD4‐ and anti‐CD8 antibodies, NI = not infected; ns = not significant (P ≥ 0·05); *P < 0·05; **P < 0·01; ***P < 0·001; Kruskal–Wallis with Dunn's post‐test. Depicted data are from one experiment.