Figure 2

Rhythmic profile of memory T and B-cells along childhood and adolescence according to sex. 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, categorized according to sex (Males (Blue color bar), n = 408 and Females (Red color bar), n = 404) followed by age stratification into distinct groups (9^Mths–1^Yr, n = 62, n = 73; 2^Yrs, n = 67, n = 80; 3–4^Yrs, n = 67, n = 62; 5–7^Yrs, n = 72, n = 61; 8–10^Yrs, n = 71, n = 69 and 11–18^Yrs, n = 69, n = 59, respectively). 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 males and females at matching age ranges was carried out by Mann–Whitney test and significant differences at p < 0.05 underscored by #. 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.