Figure 2. CD8⁺ T cell recovery is impaired in heart allograft recipients lacking MHC class I expression.

B6.CD45.1⁺ splenic CD8⁺ T cells were intravenously injected into CD8^–/– or TAP1^–/– B6 mice (10 × 10⁶ per recipient) followed by BALB/c heart transplantation and mATG treatment. (A) Representative dot plots showing percentages of CD8⁺CD45.1⁺ T cells among peripheral blood live cells. (B) The kinetics of CD8⁺CD45.1⁺ T cell reconstitution. (C) Numbers of CD8⁺CD45.1⁺ T cells in spleen at day 60 after transplant. n = 6 animals per group; error bars represent SD. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001; ns, P ≥ 0.05 by multiple t tests (B) or Student’s t test (C).