Figure 5

Inflammatory profile during L. braziliensis infection after co-inoculation or pre-sensitization with saliva. BALB/c mice inoculated i.d. once (SGE-1X) or three times (SGE-3X) with Lutzomyia longipalpis SGE or with PBS (control) were challenged with 10⁵L. braziliensis stationary phase promastigote forms. At the end of 7th week post-infection, ears were harvested, processed and inflammatory leucocytes were sorted using specific antibodies. For intracellular cytokines, the cells were in vitro re-stimulated with lived parasites. Dot plots represent the percentages of CD4⁺CD3⁺ and CD4⁺IFN-γ⁺ cells (A–left panel), CD8⁺CD3⁺ and CD8⁺IFN-γ⁺ cells (B–right panel). Total number of CD4⁺ T cells (C) and CD4⁺IFN-γ⁺ cells (D) or CD8⁺ T cells (E) and CD8⁺IFN-γ⁺ cells (F), CD4⁺FOXP3⁺ cells (G), macrophages (H) and neutrophils (I) within the ears were identified by flow cytometry. Data represent the mean ± SEM and are representative of two different experiments (n = 4). ^#P < 0.05 compared with PBS. ^*P < 0.05 compared with the SGE-1X group.