Increased levels of cortisol are associated with the severity of experimental visceral leishmaniasis in a Leishmania (L.) infantum-hamster model
Fig 4
Gene expression of cytokines in the spleen of hamsters infected by Leishmania (L.) infantum.
A) The relative quantification of mRNA was performed by the comparative Ct method (△△Ct), using spleen from uninfected hamster as calibrator (Fold change = 1), as indicated by the dotted line. Horizontal bars represent the mean ± standard deviation of eight biological replicates. B) Cytokines, iNOS and arginase in the spleen of hamsters infected with L. infantum according to a comparative gene expression heatmap analysis. Heatmap analyses were performed for gene expression (tnf, tgfβ, ifnγ, il10, il6, il1β, arg, inos) ΔΔCt using the online Heat mapper software. The animals were clustered by gene expression signature. The hierarchy average linkage clustering method with Euclidean distance measurement was used (Wishart Research Group at the University of Alberta). Each row represents one molecule, and each column represents one animal. Higher gene expression is displayed in red, and lower gene expression, in green. Gray indicates mean gene expression below the lower limit of detection.