Figure 2.

B cell deficiency affects CD4 T cell activation in spleens and inflammation in atherosclerotic lesions. FACS analysis done at the completion of 8 week high fat diet feeding showed (A) reduced numbers of naïve (CD44⁻ CD62L⁺), central memory (CD44⁺ CD62L⁺) and effector memory (CD44⁺ CD62L⁻) CD4 T cells in spleens in μMT^−/− ApoE^−/− mice. Using CellTracking Violet dye, dye-labeled splenocytes (0.5 × 10⁶/ml) were cultured with Concanavalin A (2 μg/ml) or MDA-LDL (20 μg/ml) in 96-well U-bottomed plates (see text for detail). FACS analysis showed CD4 T cell proliferation upon (B) systemic non-specific stimulation and (C) MDA-LDL specific stimulation. RNAs extracted from atherosclerotic arches of ApoE^−/− and μMT^−/− ApoE^−/− mice were used to determine (D–F) mRNA expression of inflammatory cytokines using RT-PCR. Data presented as mean ± SEM of two to three independent experiments. n = 12–15 per group, *p < 0.05, □ ApoE^−/− mice ■ μMT^−/− ApoE^−/− mice.