The cholinergic pathway dampens immune responses in the draining lymph node of skin-grafted and imiquimod-treated female recipients.

<p>(<b>A</b> to <b>D</b>): From <b>A</b> to <b>D</b>, mRNA coding for IL-2, IL-17, IL-13 and IFN-γ were quantified by qPCR in draining lymph nodes 30 days after transplantation. Black bars represent wild type donor-recipient combination and white bars the α7−/− donor-recipient combination. Results are expressed as fold increase (FI = 2^−ΔΔCT) of quantities measured in lymph nodes from either ungrafted α7+/+ or α7−/− mice, n = 4 to 8 mice per group. (*): p<0.05 compared with wild type α7+/+ donor-recipient combination. (<b>E</b> to <b>G</b>): Intracellular IL-17 production in CD4 gated T cells after 4 hours of PMA-ionomycin stimulation is shown in control α7+/+ ungrafted mice (<b>E</b>), wild type donor-recipient combination (<b>F</b>) and α7−/− donor-recipient combinations (<b>G</b>). (<b>H</b> to <b>J</b>): Intracellular IFN-γ production in CD8 gated T cells after 4 hours of PMA-ionomycin stimulation is shown in control α7+/+ ungrafted mice (<b>H</b>), in wild type donor-recipient combination (<b>I</b>) and α7−/− donor-recipient combinations (<b>J</b>). (<b>K,L</b>): Bars summarize the percentages of IL-17+ CD4 T cells (<b>K</b>) and IFN-γ+ CD8 T cells (<b>L</b>) in either the wild type (black bars) or the α7−/− (white bars) donor-recipient combination. Controls have been harvested from α7+/+ ungrafted mice (grey bars). n = 4 to 8 mice/group. No difference regarding IL-17 (Supplementary <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0079984#pone-0079984-g001" target="_blank">figure 1</a>) or IFN-γ production has been observed between α7+/+ and α7−/− ungrafted controls. (**): p<0.01 α7−/− compared to α7+/+ donor-recipient combinations.