Fig. 3.

JEV titer in brain was increased in Mertk^−/−mice. A JEV mRNA level and inflammatory genes profiles in brain 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. B JEV NS3 and β-actin expression levels in PBS or JEV treated WT and Mertk^−/− mice were detected by western blot at 5 days after JEV infection (PBS-treated WT n = 3, JEV-treated WT n = 4, JEV-treated Mertk^−/− n = 4). C Representative histology of mice brain analyzed by HE staining and the histology evaluation of necrosis, astrocytosis and hemorrhage. (Yellow arrow: intravascular leucocyte, blue arrow: astrocytosis, black arrow: abundant eosinophilic granular cytoplasm) *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 and ***P < 0.001