CD8low SP8 thymocytes have impaired proliferative capacities after TCR stimulation. Thymi from SCID-hu Thy/Liv mice were processed 21 days after direct intrathymic inoculation of saline (mock) or HIV JD, as described in Figure 5. MHC-I MFI and CD8 MdFI were determined at day 0 on total fresh thymocytes. In parallel, CD3 and CD28 proliferative responses were assessed on purified SP8 thymocytes after 5 days by CFSE dilution. (A) CFSE proliferative responses (flow plots, higher), histogram representation (red curve, lower), and modeling (blue curve, lower) in SP8 thymocytes from representative examples of mock- or HIV-infected SCID-hu Thy/Liv mice, indicating the percentage of divided, proliferative index, and division index after proliferation, as well as CD8 expression at the starting day (Day 0). (B) Percent of divided SP8 thymocytes (modeling) in HIV-infected SCID-hu Thy/Liv mice (n = 8) compared with mock- and virally suppressed 3TC/HIV-infected animals (n = 9, P = .001) and (C) correlation to CD8 MdFI at day 0 (P = .0001). P values were calculated using the Mann-Whitney test for group analysis and by Spearman rank correlation for correlation test. R2 from the Pearson coefficient of correlation is also indicated.