Figure 4.

Splenic index value, CFU, and Survival curve of immunocompetent (CI) and immunosuppressed (SI) mice infected with Sporothrix spp. and control groups (CC and SC) euthanized 21, 35, and 49 days after inoculation. (a,b) The control groups (CC/SC) were assigned a splenic index value of 1, therefore, the results described demonstrate how many times the spleen of immunocompetent (a) and immunosuppressed (b) infected mice is enlarged in relation to its control. (c,d) Number of Sporothrix spp. cells recovered from spleen fragments of immunocompetent (c) and immunosuppressed (d) mice. The bars represent the experimental groups (CI/SI) and the CFU averages recovered from spleen fragments of four euthanized mice; (e,f) Survival curve of immunocompetent (e) and immunosuppressed (f) mice, after inoculation of 3 × 10⁶ conidia of Sporothrix species through a subcutaneous route at the base of the tail and a control group similarly inoculated with PBS during the period of 49 days after infection. ANOVA test was used to perform comparisons among CFU and splenic index of the immunocompetent groups. The non-parametric Mann–Whitney u-test was used to analyze the same criteria among immunosuppressed groups. Survival data were analyzed using Kaplan Meier survival plots followed by log rank tests. The p-value cutoff for statistical significance was 0.05 and the n value for each group was 4.