Body weight changes during the course of the infection and quantitative analysis of parasites and T cells in the brain parenchyma.

<p><b>A:</b> body weight gain difference (mean values ± SD) monitored in the groups of rats (see C for sample size) from the day before <i>T</i>. <i>b</i>. <i>brucei</i> (<i>Tbb</i>) infection (day 0) until 24 day post-infection (dpi), compared with uninfected rats (ctrl, control). Two-factor (time x infection) mixed-design ANOVA for repeated measures showed a significant main effect both for infection (F_1,26 = 224.26, p<0.001) and time (F_8,90 = 40.19, P<0.001). <b>B</b>,<b>D</b>,<b>F</b>: Counts (mean number + SD in three rats per time point) of <i>Tbb</i>, CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, respectively, in adjacent sections through hypothalamic centers which play a key role in the regulation of appetite: DMH: dorsomedial hypothalamus. VMH: ventromedial hypothalamus. Ac: arcuate nucleus. <b>C</b>: the table shows the sample size (groups of 3 rats were sacrificed at different days) and summarizes the statistical analysis of body weight difference between uninfected controls and infected rats during the progression of infection, based on Bonferroni <i>post-hoc</i> test following ANOVA. <b>E:</b> scatter plots of the individual values of body weight difference from day 0 (left Y axis; blue and black dots) and total number of parasites counted in the brain parenchyma of each rat (right Y axis; diamonds) in the groups of three rats sacrificed during the progression of the infection; the black dots correspond to the 3 animals of the last group, sacrificed at 24 dpi (see A and C).