PC position in LNs and lineage markers of individual non-GC B cells at the peak of the GC response. (A) LSFM 3D-rendered images of LNs removed from Blimp-1-YFP mice 12 d after immunization with NP-OVA, and quantification of the number of individual Blimp-1 YFP B cells in the cortex or medulla in single LNs after GC exclusion. Each pair of colored dots represents a single LN. P = 0.06; Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed rank two-tailed test. Scale bar, 200 μm. (B) Representative flow cytometric plots and quantification of PCs (CD138⁺) in AID.Cre.tdTomato (left; Cre) or AID.Cre.ERT2.tdTomato (right; Cre.ERT) mice 14 d after immunization with NP-OVA, within the tdTomato⁺ B cell population. ns, not significant; two-tailed Student's t test. (C) Representative flow cytometric plots and quantification of FAS^Hi CD38⁻ (GC cells), FAS^Hi CD38⁺, and FAS^Lo CD38⁺ (non-GC cells). (D and E) Representative flow cytometry plots and quantification of memory cells (PD-L2⁺ CD80⁺) in tdTomato⁺ cells 14 d after immunization with NP-OVA, within the FAS^Hi CD38⁺ and FAS^Lo CD38⁺ B cell population. Data pooled for B–E from two independent experiments with a total of four to six mice per group. Data are represented as means ± SEM. *, P < 0.05; **, P < 0.01; ***, P < 0.0001; one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons test.