Delayed and short course of rapamycin prevents organ rejection after allogeneic liver transplantation in rats

Figure 3 The effects of a short course of rapamycin treatment on naïve and effector memory cells (A) seems to transiently inhibit the T cell function (B). A: The ndLNs, dLNs and spleens of grafted animals were collected on day 11 and day 42 and conventional T cells were analyzed by flow cytometry. Naïve T cells, defined as CD62L⁺CD45RC⁺, and effector/memory cells, defined as (CD62L^-CD45RC^-) + (CD62L⁺CD45RC^-) + (CD62L^-CD45RC⁺), were analyzed in CD4⁺Foxp3^- and CD8⁺Foxp3^- T cell populations. The results are expressed as the mean +/- SEM of the percentages of effector/memory and naïve T cells, respectively. P-values are indicated when the differences between the two groups of rats are significant (^aP ≤ 0.05). The graph shows the cumulative data from 4-5 rats/group; B: Quantification of IFNγ and TNFα expression by CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T cells in the dLNs of grafted animals after PMA/ionomycin stimulation for 4 h. The graph shows the cumulative data from 4-5 rats/group. The results are expressed as the mean +/- SEM. P-values are indicated when the differences between the two groups of rats are significant (^aP ≤ 0.05).