FIG 7.
Reduction of Cx43 mRNA abundance in viral infection. Primary astrocytes were infected with MHV-A59 at an MOI of 2, and mock-infected cells were maintained in parallel. RNA was extracted at 24 h p.i., and subsequently cDNA was synthesized. Equal amounts of cDNA template were used for qPCR analysis. The relative expression of Cx43 mRNA was obtained using the ΔΔCT method. (A) Compared to that of mock-infected cells, Cx43 expression was 3.49- ± 0.25-fold downregulated after MHV-A59 infection. The end products of the qPCR of Cx43 and an internal control, β-actin, were resolved in a 4% agarose gel and are shown in panel B. Mean ± SEM incidences from three different experiments are shown (***, P < 0.001).