FIG. 8.

MHV-induced NF-κB activation is mediated through the JNK signaling pathway. Primary astrocytes were pretreated with the NF-κB inhibitor peptide Ser276 (Ser) at 50 μM or with a nonspecific inhibitor (NS) or were untreated (−) in the presence (SP) or absence (mock) of the JNK inhibitor SP600125. The cells were then infected with MHV-A59 at an MOI of 5. At 24 h p.i., cell nuclear extracts were prepared and NF-κB activity was determined with the TransAM NF-κB p65 assay kit, as described in Materials and Methods. The results are expressed as the mean absorbance at 450 nm (OD₄₅₀) for three independent experiments. The error bars indicate standard deviations of the mean. The asterisks indicate statistical significance between the pairs (P < 0.05).