FIG. 4.
Viral loads during the course of infection of PT macaques with SIVagm3-X4mc (PT236 [▴]; PT6502 [•]) or SIVagm3mc (PT232 [▵]; PT7337 [○]). (A) Plasma viral loads in PT macaques were measured as the number of RNA copies per milliliter of plasma (real-time quantitative RT-PCR) for a period of 20 weeks following the inoculation of virus. The detection limit of the assay was 102 RNA copies/ml of plasma (dashed lines). (B) Cell-associated viral loads in the peripheral blood of infected PT macaques were measured as the number of productively infected cells/106 PBMCs. Ficoll gradient-purified PT macaque PBMCs were diluted to various extents and cocultured with C8166 T cells. Data were obtained for a period of 26 weeks postinoculation. (C) Viral DNA loads in infected PT macaques were measured as the number of DNA copies/105 PBMCs (real-time quantitative PCR) for a period of 26 weeks postinoculation. The detection limit was 102 DNA copies per 105 PBMCs (dashed lines).