Fig. 4.

Depletion of microglia/macrophages attenuates the recruitment of T lymphocytes in the CNS of CLN1 mice. a Representative fluorescent microscopic images of immunohistochemically labeled CD8⁺ T cells (arrows) in longitudinal optic nerve sections of 6-month-old Ppt1^+/+, Ppt1^−/−, and PLX3397-treated Ppt1^−/− mice after 5 months of treatment. Scale bar: 50 μm. b, c Quantification of CD8⁺ or CD4⁺ T cells in optic nerves of 6-month-old Ppt1^+/+, Ppt1^−/−, and PLX3397-treated Ppt1^−/− mice showed a significant reduction of T cell numbers after microglia/macrophage depletion. d Representative fluorescent microscopic images of immunohistochemically labeled CD8⁺ T cells in the S1Bf cortex region. Scale bar: 50 μm. e, f Quantification of CD8⁺ or CD4⁺ T cells in the S1Bf cortex showed a significant reduction of CD8⁺ T cell numbers in PLX3397-treated Ppt1^−/− mice. g Representative fluorescent microscopic images of immunohistochemically labeled CD8⁺ T cells in S1Bf cortex of male and female PLX3397-treated Ppt1^−/− mice. h, i Quantifications of CD8⁺ or CD4⁺ T cells in the S1Bf cortex region of Ppt1^−/− and PLX3397-treated Ppt1^−/− mice separated by their sex revealed a strong sex bias favoring the reduction of CD8⁺ T cell numbers in male treated mice. n = 5 male and 5 female mice per group. One-way ANOVA and Tukey’s post hoc tests. *^{, #}P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001. # significant difference to untreated Ppt1^−/− mice of the same sex