Fig. 2.

Viral load and inflammatory response in peripheral were not significantly changed between WT and Mertk^−/− mice after JEV infection. A Blood sample were collected from mice tail vein at 1 day and 3 days after JEV infection in WT (n = 3) and Mertk^−/− (n = 3) mice. Plague formation assay was performed to determinate virus titers in peripheral. B–G Profiles of JEV mRNA level (B) and inflammatory genes (C–G) in spleen of WT and Mertk^−/− mice were detected at 1 day (WT + PBS n = 4, Mertk^−/− + PBS n = 4, WT + JEV n = 7, Mertk^−/− + JEV n = 7), 3 days (WT + PBS n = 5, Mertk^−/− + PBS n = 4,WT + JEV n = 12, Mertk^−/− + JEV n = 11) and 5 days (WT + PBS n = 4, Mertk^−/− + PBS n = 4,WT + JEV n = 11, Mertk^−/− + JEV n = 11) after JEV infection by qPCR. The expression level was normalized to WT mice treated with PBS. H–J Levels of the proinflammatory cytokines interleukin (IL)-10, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) in the serum of WT and Mertk^−/− mice were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (WT + PBS n = 3, Mertk^−/− + PBS n = 3, WT + JEV n = 4, Mertk^−/− + JEV n = 4). *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 and ***P < 0.001