Figure 3.

Treatment with an ERα ligand reduced proinflammatory cytokine production by peripheral immune cells in ovariectomized, wild-type C57BL/6 female mice with EAE. EAE was induced as in Figure 2, and at day 40 after disease induction, mice were killed, and cytokine production by MOG 35–55 stimulated splenocytes was determined. TNFα, IFNγ, and IL6 levels were each significantly reduced with PPT treatment, whereas IL5 levels were increased with PPT treatment. Error bars indicate variability of cytokine values for splenocytes between individual mice within a given treatment group, with n = 5 mice for each treatment group. Data are representative of experiments repeated three times. ∗p < 0.05.