On days 24–26 post-immunization, six mice from each group were sacrificed, and their splenic mononuclear cells were isolated. The cells were stimulated with Cell Stimulation Cocktail (PMA + Ionomycin, eBioscience) for 5 h. The cells were stained with FITC-anti-CD4 (eBioscience), fixed, and permeabilized. After being washed, the cells were stained intracellularly with PE-anti-IFN-γ or PE-anti-IL-17 (eBioscience). The frequency of Th1 (CD4+IFN-γ+) and Th17 (CD4+Th17+) cells in total CD4+ T cells was determined by flow cytometry.
On days 15 post-immunization (the early stage of EAE), splenic mononuclear cells were isolated from the vehicle or ALX-treated EAE mice. The cells were stimulated with 20 μg/ml of MOG35-55 for 48 h and stained with PE-anti-CD11c, Percp-cy5.5-anti-MHC-II, FITC-anti-CD80 or FITC-anti-CD86, or isotype controls (eBioscience), and their expression levels were characterized by flow cytometry.