Malnutrition leads to reduced lymph node mass and cellularity.

<p>Age-matched female weanling BALB/c mice were fed the control (well-nourished; WN) or polynutrient deficient diet (PND) for 28 days and then left uninfected or infected with 10⁶<i>L. donovani</i> promastigotes in the skin over each footpad for 3 days. The data shown are the mean and SEM (error bars) of absolute LN weight (A), LN weight index (B) and total number of LN cells (C) from a single experiment (n = 6 per group) that is representative of 3–4 independent experiments. The LN weight index was calculated as LN weight divided by bodyweight (in grams). (*, p<0.05; ***, p<0.001; ****, p<0.0001).