MOG stimulation results in delayed initiation of proliferation but eventual accumulation of CD4⁺ T cells.

<p>Splenocytes from SMARTA or 2D2 mice were CFSE labeled and stimulated with 10 µM of the indicated antigen for various times. (A) Representative plots from at least three independent experiments show CFSE dilution of CD4⁺ cells, assessed by flow cytometry, to detect proliferation at indicated times. (B) On various days, total CD4⁺ T cell numbers were assessed using BD Trucount tubes (BD Biosciences) to gauge cellular accumulation after peptide stimulation (On Day 7, SMARTA:gp61 and 2D2:NFM, p = 0.1; SMARTA:gp61 and 2D2:MOG p = 0.5; 2D2:NFM and 2D2:MOG p = 0.2). (C) After the indicated APC contact time, CD4+ T cells were MACS purified to remove the cells from the APCs. The percent of CD25+ and CD69+ CD4+ T cells was assessed by flow cytometry at 24 hours, as indicated on the x-axis. Experiments were performed at least three times; p values were generated using student's t-test on GraphPad Prism.