Figure 2

B cells and T cells persist in the CNS of WNV-inoculated mice. Adult, female B6 mice were inoculated SC with diluent (mock) or 10³ PFU of WNV in the left rear footpad. At various times post-inoculation, two mock-inoculated and four WNV-inoculated mice were sacrificed and perfused with perfusion buffer. CNS mononuclear cells were collected, and flow cytometry was performed for various cell markers. Cells were gated on the CD45⁺ population as shown in Figure 1. (A) Representative scatter plots are shown for CD19⁺, CD138⁺, CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ cells from WNV-inoculated mice. The numbers of (B) CD19⁺, (C) CD138⁺, (D) CD8⁺, and (E) CD4⁺ cells per brain are shown at various times post-inoculation. Each data point represents an individual mouse, and solid horizontal lines represent the geometric means. Open symbols indicate mice that showed clinical signs of disease during acute illness. Two independent studies were performed for 1, 2, 4, 8 and 12 wpi for B, D and E and for 1 and 12 wpi for C, and these data were analyzed by Mann-Whitney U tests with P values indicated by: 0.001 < ** ≤0.01 and 0.01 < * ≤0.05.