Figure 5.

Electroporation-mediated gene delivery of Ear1 protects oxygen-exposed mice against influenza A virus infection. Lungs of adult mice exposed to hyperoxia (O₂) as neonates were electroporated with empty vector (control) or plasmid-expressing Ear1 (Ear1). Mice were infected intranasally with influenza A virus 48 hours later. A: Overexpression of Ear1 significantly reduced viral titers on postinfection days 3 and 5 (*P < 0.005). Each dot represents the virus titer in an individual mouse. B: Overexpression of Ear1 significantly reduced the number of inflammatory cells recruited into the lung on postinfection day 5 (n = 9 mice per group; **P < 0.05). C: Overexpression of Ear1 significantly reduced weight loss of infected adult mice exposed to hyperoxia as neonates (n = 10 control plasmids and 8 Ear1 plasmids; *P < 0.0001). D: Overexpression of Ear1 enhanced survival of infected young adult mice exposed to hyperoxia as neonates (n = 10 control plasmids and 8 Ear1 plasmids; P < 0.05). Mean values from a single experiment reproduced three to five times with similar results.