Modulation of CD4⁺ T cells and T_reg cells by GCs in mice.

Peripheral blood (A, C, E) and spleen (B, D, E) cells from C57BL/6 mice were analyzed by flow cytometry before, 3 days after IP treatment with different dosages of dexamethasone and 14 days after IP treatment with 100 mg/kg dexamethasone followed by oral taper. The absolute numbers of CD4⁺ T cells (A, B) and CD4⁺CD25^highFOXP3⁺ T_reg cells (C, D) were assessed and the relative frequency of T_reg cells amongst all CD4⁺ T cells was calculated (E, F); *p<0.05, **p<0.01.