FIG. 2.

WNV affects epithelial barrier functions. (A) Caco-2 cells were infected with WNV or UV-inactivated WNV (MOI of 10 PFU/cell), and TER was monitored at the indicated times p.i. Error bars represent means ± SD. Data are representative of three or more experiments performed with triplicate samples. (B) Caco-2 cells were infected at a multiplicity of 10 PFU/cell, and permeability to mannitol was assayed at 48 h p.i. as described in Methods. The results shown represent the average for three independent infections ± SD. *, P = 5 × 10⁻⁶. (C) Caco-2 cells grown and infected as described above were trypsinized at 48 h p.i., and cell viability was determined by trypan blue exclusion. A total of 500 cells were counted in duplicate samples of each. Error bars represent means ± SEM. (D) Supernatants (sup) from mock-, WNV- or WNV-VLP-infected cells were collected at 48 h p.i., and virus was removed as described in Materials and Methods. Cleared supernatants were added to naive cells. TER was monitored at the indicated times postaddition. Error bars represent means ± SD. Data are representative of two experiments performed with triplicate samples.