Fig. 2.

Permissiveness of HHD-DR1.ACE2^Hu3 transgenic mice to SARS-CoV-2 replication and inflammatory status of their lungs and brain after SARS-CoV-2 inoculation. hACE2⁺ offspring from the founders #30 or #47 (HHD-DR1.ACE2^Hu3), resulting from a lentiviral vector-based transgenesis, were inoculated i.n. with 0.3 × 10⁵ TCID₅₀/mouse of SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant. A. Lung and brain viral RNA contents were determined by E-specific or sub-genomic Esg-specific qRT-PCR at 4 dpi. B. Quantification of hACE-2 mRNA in the lung and brain of the same mice. C. Heatmaps represent log₂ fold change in cytokine and chemokine mRNA expression in the lungs or brain of the same mice (n = 4-5/group). Data were normalized versus untreated controls. Statistical significance was evaluated by Mann-Whitney test (ns = not significant, * = p < 0.05, ** = p < 0.01). D. Pearson correlation coefficient of the analytes studied in the brain of SARS-CoV-2 Delta-inoculated HHD-DR1.ACE2^Hu3 mice.