Altered proliferative capacity of B cells in lupus mice after infection with malaria parasite.

<p>The proliferative capacity of B cells in response to IL-4 and CD40L stimulation was evaluated using CFSE assays and flow cytometry. (<b>A</b>) One representative experiment showing the analysis of CFSE-stained B cells (after gating to viable cells); the percentage of proliferating cells (CFSE-lo) is indicated for each panel before and after infection of lupus mice with live or gamma-irradiated malaria parasite. (<b>B</b>) The data from the different experiments (n = 5) are expressed as the mean percentage of proliferating cells ± SEM in response to IL-4 and CD40L stimulation in non-lupus control mice (open bars), lupus mice (closed black bars), lupus mice infected with live malaria parasite (closed gray bars) and lupus mice treated with gamma-irradiated malaria parasite (hatched bars). *P < 0.05, lupus vs. control non lupus; ^#P < 0.05, lupus + live malaria vs. lupus; ⁺P < 0.05, lupus + dead malaria vs. lupus.