Figure 1

Rhythmic profile of memory T and B-cells along childhood and adolescence. The overall profile of memory T-cell subsets (CD4⁺ and CD8⁺) and B-cells was characterized in peripheral blood samples from healthy children and adolescents (ALL (Green color bar), n = 812), categorized into distinct age groups (9^Mths–1^Yr, n = 135; 2^Yrs, n = 147; 3–4^Yrs, n = 129; 5–7^Yrs, n = 133; 8–10^Yrs, n = 140 and 11–18^Yrs, n = 128). Immunophenotypic analysis of NAIVE (N), Early EFFECTOR (eEF), CENTRAL (CM) and EFFECTOR MEMORY (EM) T-cell subsets as well as NAIVE (N), Early EFFECTOR (eEF), NON-CLASSICAL MEMORY (nCM) and CLASSICAL MEMORY (CM) B-cells was carried out by flow cytometry as described in Material and Methods. The results are shown as scattering distribution of individual data of relative frequency of gated cells (% within CD4⁺, CD8⁺ or CD19⁺ gated cells) over bars of median values for each age range. Comparative analysis between pairs of adjacent age groups was carried out by Mann–Whitney test and significant differences at p < 0.05 underscored by connecting lines for comparisons with the immediately earlier age range and the statistical significance identified by *, **, ***, and **** for p values ≤ 0.05; ≤ 0.01, ≤ 0.001, and ≤ 0.0001, respectively.