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

Figure 4 The effects of a short course of rapamycin treatment on CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ regulatory T cell phenotypes. A: The dLNs of grafted animals were collected on day 11 and day 42 and regulatory CD4⁺ T cells were analyzed by flow cytometry. Different activation markers were studied (CD25⁺, ICOS⁺, Helios⁺) after gating on CD25⁺FOXP3⁺ among CD4⁺ cells. The results are expressed as the mean +/- SEM of the percentages of CD25⁺, ICOS⁺, and Helios⁺ or the MFI values for CD25, ICOS, and Helios; n = 4-5 rats/group. P-values are indicated when the differences between the two groups of rats are significant (^aP ≤ 0.05, ^bP ≤ 0.01). MFI, mean fluorescence intensity; B: The ndLNs, dLNs and spleens of grafted animals were collected on day 11 and day 42 and the percentages of CD25⁺Foxp3⁺ regulatory CD8⁺ T cells were analyzed by flow cytometry. The MFI values of the activation markers (CD25, ICOS, and CTLA-4) are shown for the dLNs. 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, ^bP ≤ 0.01, ^cP ≤ 0.0001); C: The percentages of CD45RC^low cells among CD8⁺ cells in the dLNs, ndLNs and spleens of grafted rats are shown. 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).