Fig. 5.
PI inhibits RSV infection in mice. Balb/C mice (5–8 per group) were anesthetized and inoculated intranasally with 50 μl PBS containing no additions (CONL), or 1 × 107 RSV (RSV), or 1 × 107 RSV + 300 μg PI (RSV + PI), or PI alone (PI). After 5 days, the mice were euthanized and the lungs were lavaged with 1 ml of saline. The recovered lavage solution was centrifuged to produce a cell pellet and supernatant. The mice were dissected and the lungs excised, and the left lobe was processed for quantifying infectious particles by plaque assay. The right lung was processed for histopathology. A: The total cells recovered from lavage. B: The neutrophil and lymphocyte populations recovered in the cell pellet. C: The IFN-γ levels. D: The RSV plaques recovered in homogenates of the left lung. E: The results of quantitative histopathology analysis of tissue from the right lung. F: A representative section from the right lung. Data are from three independent experiments, and the asterisk indicates P < 0.001 (A–D) and P < 0.01 (E).