Lymphocyte subsets and cell proliferation analysis in rabies-infected mice.

Alterations to lymphocyte subsets in the thymus and spleen of rabies-infected mice were investigated in a kinetic study covering the entire course of infection. Changes in the levels of thymic Thy1.2 cells were found to be proportional to total thymocyte depletion, while thymic CD4-/CD8- and B cell subsets were observed to increase in comparison to the total number of cells. The same was found to be true of CD4 and CD8 thymocytes, but only after the first clinical signs of disease had appeared. Meanwhile, drastic reductions in the number of CD4+/CD8+ thymocytes occurred during the course of infection. In the spleen, on the other hand, alterations to splenocyte subsets were not selective. Thymocytes expressing high levels of CD4 or CD8 markers were detected shortly before the death of the animals. Following the appearance of rabies symptomatology, lymphocyte proliferation decreased in comparison to the control. Thus, our results demonstrate that the thymus is the most injured lymphoid organ in cases of murine rabies infection.