Fig. 6

The effect of splenectomy on peripheral lymphocytes before RIPC and MCAO. a Experimental protocols. Two groups of animals were adopted: non-splenectomy + RIPC + MCAO and splenectomy + RIPC + MCAO. Blood was collected from the caudal tail vein at 1 h after preconditioning (① and ③) and 3 days after brain reperfusion (② and ④). b–d Flow cytometry analysis of B lymphocytes. e–i Flow cytometry analysis of T lymphocyte subsets. ②-① reflects the change of lymphocyte populations prior to and after RIPC + MCAO without splenectomy; ④-③ reflects the change of lymphocyte populations prior to and after MCAO with splenectomy and RIPC. Data are expressed as means ± SEM for 12 independent experiments. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01 versus ① or ②-①; ^#p < 0.05, ^##p < 0.01 versus ③