All tissues were collected from mice 21 days post-immunization. Spleens were passed through a
100-μm nylon mesh filter (BD Falcon, Bedford, MA, USA) into RPMI 1640 to create a single cell suspension. Red cells were lysed with
1X Red Cell Lysis Buffer (eBioscience, Inc., San Diego, CA, USA) and the cell suspension subsequently washed with RPMI 1640. Cells were then counted on a
Cellometer Auto T4 cell counter (Nexcelom, Lawrence, MA, USA). After counting, cells were centrifuged and resuspended in staining buffer (PBS with 0.1% NaN
3 and 1% BSA) for staining.
Inguinal lymph nodes (LN) were processed by passing LN through a
100-μm nylon mesh filter (BD Falcon), washing the cells with RPMI 1640, and counted. After centrifugation, cells were resuspended in staining buffer for FACS analysis.
Brains were passed through 100-μm mesh screens and washed as stated above. Cells were resuspended in 80%
Percoll (GE Healthcare, Pittsburgh, PA, USA) then overlaid with 40%
Percoll to establish a density gradient and centrifuged at 1600 rpm for 30 min following a method previously described [44 (
link)]. Leukocytes were collected from the resultant interface, counted, and resuspended in staining buffer for staining.
Seifert H.A., Gerstner G., Kent G., Vandenbark A.A, & Offner H. (2019). Estrogen-induced compensatory mechanisms protect IL-10-deficient mice from developing EAE. Journal of Neuroinflammation, 16, 195.