Fig. 8: The immune response triggered by DHT in EAE animals is strikingly different in female compared to male mice.

a Scheme of the experimental protocol. b, c Scoring of neurological disabilities in EAE female and male mice (n = 8/group) daily treated with DHT or the drug vehicle (Veh) at onset of neurological symptoms (day 1) for 8 days. d–f The spleen (n = 8 females, 5 males) in d, lymph nodes in e and spinal cord in f (n = 7 females, 5 males) from each animal group examined in a single experiment were harvested in order to perform flow cytometry analysis and dosage of cytokines. Data are presented as mean values ± SEM. The gating strategies for flow cytometry analysis are shown in Supplementary Figs. 4–7. Only the cell types regulated by DHT are shown. In the lymphoid organs and spinal cord, immune cell types are expressed in percentage of all cells and CD45⁺ leukocytes, respectively. Similarly, a panel of 9 cytokines has been assessed (as described in Methods). Only cytokines regulated by DHT are shown in red boxes. P values (d, e, f) were calculated by using the unpaired two-tailed t-test or Mann-Whitney tests. Welch’s correction was used for IFNγ e and IL1-β f in females. *p ≤ 0.05; **p ≤ 0.01; ***p ≤ 0.001 compared to the control (Veh); ns non-significant. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.