Figure 8. Infection with IV H1N1 and S. aureus 6850 induces an inflammatory response in vivo.
Balb/c mice were intranasally infected with IV H1N1 (50 PFU) and were super-infected with S. aureus 6850 (5 × 107 CFU) on day 2 post viral infection. 16 h post bacterial infection, animals were sacrificed, and blood, lung and liver samples were subjected to further investigation. Serum levels of IL-6 (a) and SAA (b) were analysed by ELISA. Total RNA of lung (c–e) and liver (f–h) samples was isolated and the levels of IL-6 (c), TNFα (d), IL-1β (e), SAA (f), Hp (g) and ORM (h) were measured by RT-qPCR and are depicted as fold change over mock-treated animals. Mean ± SD is shown. Kruskal-Wallis followed by Dunnett’s multiple comparison tests were performed for comparison of single and super-infected animals (*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01).