Figure 5

Histological examination of salivary glands. Salivary gland histology was examined at the end of the study (30 weeks of age). CD3+T and B220+B cell immunofluorescence staining, as well as CD11c and F4/80 immunochemistry staining for dendritic and macrophages cells respectively were done as described in Materials and Methods. Panels show representative immuno-fluorescence staining of salivary of B and T cells in SGs from mice cannulated with AAV2-LacZ (n = 6) or AAV2-CTLA4IgG vector (n = 7) (A, B, and C) (Blue arrows) and enumeration (mean ± SEM) (D) of B and T cells in SGs from LacZ- and CTLA4IgG- treated mice; immunohistochemical staining and enumeration (mean ± SEM) of CD11c+ DCs (E, F, G, and H) and F4/80+ macrophages (I, J, K, and L) (Black arrows) in SGs from LacZ- and CTLA4IgG-treated C57BL/6.NOD-Aec1Aec2 mice. A statistical decrease in the enumeration of both T cells was shown in the SGs from CTLA4 overexpressing mice compared to the LacZ-treated (P = 0.0464). No statistical significance but a trend was shown (P = 0.3024) for decrease trend of B cells. Significant down-regulation of both CD11c+ dendritic cells and F4/80+macrophages was seen in the SGs from CTLA4IgG-treated mice compared with control (two asterisks, P ≤0.01). Unpaired student-t test was used in the analysis.