This experiment was conducted to study the effects of feed restriction (1～60 d) and compensation (61～150 d) on body weight, CD4+ and CD8+ T-lymphocytes in peripheral blood of lambs. Eighty Wuzhumuqin lambs with average body weight of (14.72±1.10) kg were randomly allotted to control group (CG), restricted group Ⅰ (RG Ⅰ), restricted group Ⅱ (RG Ⅱ) and restricted group Ⅲ (RG Ⅲ), respectively. The diet nutrient levels of the 4 groups were ME: 10.88, 10.88, 9.41 and 8.62 MJ/kg, CP: 15%, 10%, 10% and 5.7%. The four groups were fed the same diet (ME: 9.75 MJ/kg, CP: 12%) in nutrition compensation period. The lambs were weighed every week in experimental stage and collected blood from jugular vein in each group on the morning of 1, 30, 60, 90, 150 day before feeding. CD4+ to CD8+ T-lymphocyte ratio was measured by using flow cytometry. The results showed that, 1) at the end of nutrition restriction period (1～60 d), the average body weight (BW) of RG Ⅰ, RG Ⅱ and RG Ⅲ was significantly lower than that of CG (P＜0.05), the ADG of RG Ⅲ was significantly higher than that of CG in the compensation growth period (P＜0.05). 2) During the nutrient restriction period, the concentration of CD4+ and CD8+ T-lymphocytes of each group showed increasing tendency. At the end of compensation period, the concentration of CD4+ in RG Ⅰ was the lowest and that in RG Ⅱ was the highest, the concentration of CD8+ in RG Ⅱ was the lowest and that in RG Ⅰ was the highest. The results indicated that both the body weight and immunological function of feed restricted lamb had certain compensatory potency. The protein restriction may have more negative effects on compensatory growth. Lamb fed low protein and energy diet showed the least compensatory growth.［Chinese Journal of Animal Nutrition, 2010，22（4）:934-942］