Figure 4.

CNS inflammatory infiltration and fungal load. C57BL/6 mice were vaccinated with MOG+VitD, infected with C. albicans, and then submitted to EAE induction. Lumbar spinal cord inflammation was evaluated according to the following criteria (A): (0) no infiltrates; (1) partial meningeal infiltration; (2) pronounced meningeal infiltration, and (3) pronounced meningeal and some parenchymal infiltration. This semiquantitative analysis was used to assess the inflammatory infiltration (B) during the clinical EAE phase. The number of leukocytes (C) and fungal burden (D) was determined per gram of CNS tissue (in a pool of brain and spinal cord) at early clinical (10th day) and clinical (17th day) EAE phases. The results are expressed as mean ± SD (6–14 mice/group), and results from two independent experiments were combined. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, and ***P < 0.001 indicate difference among groups. # indicates difference between time points of analysis.