Spleen morphology, B cell maturation and antibody levels in LMP1/2A animals is similar to wildtype.

<p>(A) Spleen sections from 8 week old animals were isolated and fixed in 4% formalin. Paraffin-embedded sections were stained with H&E for identification of follicles and germinal centers. (B) Spleen, axillary and brachial lymph nodes were removed and weighed. (C) Sera of WT, LMP1, LMP2A and LMP1/2A mice was collected at 8 weeks of age and analyzed by ELISA for naïve Ig isotypes. Corrected OD of WT mice was set as 100%. (D–G) Single cell suspensions from lymphoid organs of WT, LMP1, LMP2A or LMP1/2A mice (6–8 weeks old) were surface stained with indicated antibodies and analyzed by flow cytometry. Frequencies of the live cell population (LiveDead stain negative) were averaged across 4 independent experiments. Either a representative experiment (D, F) or average of all mice used (E, G) is shown. (D) Immature bone marrow B cells (B220⁺/IgM⁺/IgD⁻). (E) Bone marrow large pre-B (L-PreB, CD43⁺/GL7^int), small pre-B (CD43⁺/GL7⁻) and pro-B cells (CD43⁻/GL7⁻). (F) Total splenic B cells (B220⁺/IgM⁺). (G) Splenic follicular (FO) B cells (IgM⁺/IgD⁺), and marginal zone (MZ) B cells (IgM⁺/IgD⁻). BM, bone marrow; SP, spleen; LN, axillary and brachial lymph nodes. Data are represented as mean ± standard error. <i>n</i>>4 mice per genotype for all experiments; *, <i>P</i><0.05, Student's <i>t</i> test.