Figure 5.

CD4⁺T cell functional profile in vaccinated mice (± T. cruzi). Mice were vaccinated and challenged with T. cruzi trypomastigotes as in Figures 1, 2. Splenocytes from vaccinated (A–D) and vaccinated/infected (E–H) mice were in vitro stimulated for 48 h in the presence of soluble T. cruzi lysate, labeled with fluorochrome-conjugated antibodies, and analyzed by flow cytometry. Shown are the percentages of PE⁺CD4⁺ splenic T cells exhibiting the expression of markers of (A,E) recruitment (CD11a⁺, CD69⁺) and activation (TNF-α⁺); (B,F) cell death (CD95⁺, CD95L⁺); (C,G) effector/memory phenotype (CD62L⁺, CD44⁺); and (D,H) T regulatory phenotype (CD25⁺ ± FoxP3⁺). Data (mean ± SD) are representative of two independent experiments (n = 3 mice per group per experiment, duplicate observations per sample), and significance is annotated as *none vs. vaccinated or infected vs vaccinated/infected, and ^∧comparison of vaccinated groups (*,^∧p < 0.05, **,^∧∧p < 0.01, and ***,^∧∧∧p < 0.001).