Figure 2.

Cardiac Spp viral accumulation in obese mice. (A) Outline of the animal treatment protocol. The C57BL/6J mice (2 months old) were fed normal chow or HFD. The viral administration was given at 5 months later (7 months old). The animals were remained on the same types of diets until being sacrificed at 2 hpi, 24 hpi, 3 wpi, 6 wpi, and 24 wpi. (B) Quantification of serum levels of total cholesterol, LDL/VLDL, and HDL in HFD mice (n = 7) and the NCF group (n = 8). # indicates p < 0.01 for intergroup comparison. (C) The relative protein levels of SR-B1 in hearts (n = 10) and adipose tissues (n = 6) in HFD mice and the NCF group by Western blot. Blots from two animals per group were shown. # indicates p < 0.01 in HFD vs NCF group for SR-B1 with the 75 kd MW band (∗∗). (D) Systemic dissemination of Spp virus in HFD mice. Viral load was determined by ratios of viral mCherry levels to housekeeping gene RPS18 levels in each tissue using a real time RT-PCR (Log 10 scale in Y-axis) (n = 4–7 animals per group). & indicates statistical significance in HFD group as compared with normal mice group 2 hpi or 24 hpi. Dashed line: the average Spp level in the lungs at 24 hpi. ∗, indicates statistical significance at 24 hpi as compared with 2 hpi in adipose tissues from normal chow-fed mice. The datasets of various tissues (except adipose tissues) at 2 and 24 hpi from normal-chow-fed mice were adapted from our previous report [22] for a direct comparison to the datasets from HFD mice. (E) Cellular colocalizations of Spike protein of Spp virus in the HFD hearts at 2 and 24 hpi. An anti-Spike S1 subunit antibody (red) is used to recognize the Spike protein in Spp. An anti-CD31 or anti-MRC1 antibody (green) is used to stain blood vessels or MØ in heart, respectively. Yellow arrowhead indicates cells positive for both markers. Blue: DAPI staining for nuclei. Scale bar: 20 μm.