infection usually results in rapid and extensive depletion of lymphocytes surrounding the periarteriolar lymphoid sheaths, characterized by apoptotic lesions in the spleens, lymph nodes, livers, and brains of L.m.-infected mice.29 Since apoptosis of splenic lymphocytes mostly occurred at 48 h post infection,30 we then analyzed the dynamic changes of CD8+ T cells and eosinophils during early L.m. This evidence concerns the gene CD8A and infection.