Fig 5.

Reduction of viral titers of HSV-1 (a) and HSV-2 (b) incubated for 15 min at room temperature in a buffered aqueous solution (the left set of bars), in that sandwiched between an uncoated polyethylene slide and an uncoated piece of latex condom (the middle left set of bars), in that sandwiched between a DMPEI-coated latex condom and an uncoated polyethylene slide (the middle right set of bars), and in that sandwiched between a DMPEI-coated latex condom that had been stretched extensively and an uncoated polyethylene slide (the right set of bars). In the “No latex” sample, a virus solution was incubated in buffer only. In the “Uncoated latex” sample, a virus solution was incubated between a piece of uncoated polyethylene slide and of uncoated latex for 15 min to account for a non-specific adsorption of the virus to the slide and/or latex. In the “DMPEI-coated latex” sample, a piece of latex was painted with the hydrophobic polycation. In the “DMPEI-coated latex (stretched) ” sample, a piece of latex was painted with the hydrophobic polycation, allowed to dry, and stretched 10-times horizontally and vertically to imitate real-life use of condoms, after which time virus solution was incubated with it. The limit of detection for the assay is approximately 1 PFU. The heights of the bars are mean values, and the error bars are standard deviations.