Fig. 2

Earlier symptom onset in aSyn^−/− mice accompanied by increased spinal cord infiltration of Th1 cells during EAE. a Percentage of mice without symptoms during the onset phase of EAE is shown. The aSyn^−/− cohort (dashed line) exhibited significantly less disease-free mice compared to the aSyn^+/+ cohort (solid line) (n = 15/16; *p < 0.05). b aSyn^−/− mice (white dots, dashed line) showed a significantly more severe clinical course during the initial phase of EAE than aSyn^+/+ mice (black dots, solid line) (n = 15/16; **p < 0.01). Symptom severity at disease peak was not different between both groups. c Western blot analysis reveals the presence of α-synuclein (α-syn) in antigen-presenting cells (CD11b⁺ and CD11c⁺) and CD4⁺ T cells isolated from the spleen of aSyn^+/+ mice. Spinal cord (SC) lysates of aSyn^+/+ and aSyn^−/− mice were loaded as positive and negative controls for α-synuclein immunoreactivity. d Representative contour plots of ex vivo flow cytometry to determine frequencies of IL-17A⁺ and/or IFN-γ⁺ cells within the spinal cord of aSyn^+/+ (upper panel) and aSyn^−/− (lower panel) mice 2 days after symptom onset of EAE are depicted. e In the spinal cord of aSyn^−/− mice (gray bars), there were significantly higher frequencies of IFN-γ⁺ Th1 and IFN-γ⁺/IL-17A⁺ Th1/Th17 cells as compared to aSyn^+/+ mice (black bars) (n = 4; *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01). f Frequency of regulatory T cells was lower in aSyn^−/− mice (n = 4; **p < 0.01). g There was no difference in the frequency of antigen-presenting cells (n = 4; p > 0.05)