FIG. 4.

Lymphocyte subpopulations in the spleens of chronically infected mice subjected to different parasite loads at the acute phase of T. cruzi infection. Mice were infected with 10³ (low dose) or 10⁵ (high dose) parasites and treated at day 6 with benznidazole. One year after infection, the frequencies of B (B220⁺), CD4⁺, and CD8⁺ spleen cells were determined by fluorescence-activated cell sorting (A to C). Numbers of large cells were calculated by FSC analysis of gated lymphocyte populations (D to F). Numbers of total and large cells per spleen of each population were calculated by considering spleen cell numbers (G to I). Each bar represents the mean ± standard error of individual values from 10 or 11 mice. ∗, P < 0.05 compared with the control group; ∗∗, P < 0.05 compared with the control and the low-dose group.