Fig. 5

BBG suppressed Th1 and Th17 differentiation and reduced the expression of inflammatory cytokines in the spleen of EAN rats. EAN rats were sacrificed at day 18, and splenic MNCs of EAN rats were isolated for the assessing CD4⁺ T cell subpopulations using flow cytometry. The expression of inflammatory factors was determined through qRT-PCR. (A) Percentage of CD4⁺T cells, Th1 CD4⁺ IFN-γ⁺ cells, Th2 CD4⁺ IL-4⁺ cells, Th17 CD4⁺ IL-17⁺ cells and Treg CD4⁺ CD25⁺ Foxp3⁺ cells for each group. (C, E) Proportions of Th1 and Th17 cells among CD4⁺T cells decreased in the BBG-treated group compared to those in the vehicle group. (B, D, F) Proportions of splenic mononuclear CD4⁺T cells, and those of Th2 and Treg cells among CD4⁺T cells no effect. (G-J) mRNA levels of inflammatory cytokines IL-17, IL-2, IFN-γ, and TNF-α in splenic monocytes. Experiments were performed in triplicate (n = 6 per replicate) with similar results. BBG-P, preventative BBG group; BBG-T, therapeutic BBG group. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01