Fig. 8
Aging increases the frequency of IL-17+ cells among CD4+ T lymphocytes in draining lymph nodes from AO rats immunized for EAE. (Panel a) Flow cytometry dot plots show the expression of IL-17 in CD4+ TCRαβ + lymphocytes retrieved on the 7th d.p.i. from draining lymph nodes of (left) young and (right) aged rats immunized for EAE. Numbers in the flow cytometry dot plots indicate the percentage of cells in the indicated region. Bar graph shows the number of IL-17 + CD4+ TCRαβ + lymphocytes in draining lymph nodes from young and aged rats. (Panel b) Left bar graph indicates the fold change in expression of mRNA for IL-17 in CD4+ draining lymph node cells isolated on the 7th d.p.i. using MACS (described in detail in the section Methods) from aged relative to young rats as determined by RT-qPCR. Data are normalized to β-actin (ACTB). Right bar graph shows concentrations of IL-17 in 72 h lymph node mononuclear cell cultures from young and aged rats without ConA or MBP (RPMI) or upon stimulation with either ConA (ConA) or MBP (MBP) as determined by ELISA. (Panel c) Bar graphs indicate the fold change in expression of mRNAs for (left) IL-1β and IL-23/p19 and (right) IL-6 in draining lymph node cells on the 7th d.p.i. from aged relative to young rats as determined by RT-qPCR. All results are presented as means ± SEM (n = 9/group). Data are representative of one of two experiments with similar results. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001