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. 2019 Apr 12;10:797. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2019.00797

Figure 3.

Figure 3

In-depth immune phenotyping showed, that keeping mice under non-SPF conditions significantly changes the immune phenotype with age. (A) A shift from lymphoid toward myeloid immune cells could be seen in a lowered B and T cell fraction in the spleen, accompanied by a change of the ratio of B and T cells toward T cells. (B) Dendritic cells increased under non-SPF conditions and a shift toward conventional DCs (cDC) occurred. (C) Natural killer cells (NK cells) and especially Natural killer T cells (NKT) increased with higher age. (D) Under non-SPF conditions a shift from CD8+ T cells toward CD4+ T cells occurred, being stable thereafter throughout aging. (E) CD8+ effector memory T cells can further be divided into memory (Tem), memory precursor effector cells (MPEC) and short-lived effector cells (SLEC). The diversity of effector cells increased with age. (F) CD4+ T regulatory cells (Treg) increased with age. (G) CD8+ T regulatory cells (Treg) are a rare cell population, but could be found in relevant amounts in 24 months old mice. N = 6 animals per group, boxplot distribution with median, Mann-Whitney U-test, *p < 0.05.