Figure 4.

SR-2P containing 5% aciclovir and 1% tenofovir (SR-2P/A + T) limits the histopathology following HSV-2 infection. Mice were sham-treated or treated intravaginally with 2.7% hydroxyethylcellulose (HEC), SR-2P without APIs, SR-2P/A + T (n = 6) or 2.7% HEC containing 5% aciclovir (HEC/ACV) (n = 4). Subsequently, animals were inoculated intravaginally with HSV-2. Uninfected mice were used as a control (n = 4). Vaginal tissues were collected during interim necropsies or at termination of the study and stained with haematoxylin and eosin. Histology slide pictures are shown for representative animals that were uninfected (a) or were virus-inoculated following sham (b), HEC (c), SR-2P (d), SR-2P/A + T (e) or HEC/ACV (f) treatment. Bar = 100 μm. Tissue slides from individual animals were analysed semi-quantitatively by a board-certified pathologist in a blinded fashion for histopathology parameters (epithelial thinning, erosion, exudate, leucocyte infiltration, mucosal single-cell necrosis and mucosal single-cell vacuolation), which were scored on a scale of 0–4: 0 = not observed; 1 = minimal; 2 = mild; 3 = moderate; and 4 = marked. Cumulative histopathology scores (g) summarize the individual observations (h). Mucification is shown in (i). Histopathology was significantly increased in sham- and vehicle-treated HSV-2-infected mice compared with uninfected control animals. No significant increase was observed in SR-2P/A + T- and HEC/ACV-treated animals. Data were analysed by Kruskal–Wallis test. *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01. Figure 4 appears in colour in the online version of JAC and in black and white in the print version of JAC.