Figure 7.
Survival rate, body weight changes, and parasite burden upon challenge infection. Mice immunized with combination VLPs (TG1/TG4/TG6), multi-antigen VLPs (TG146), and non-immunized control mice were challenged with 1 × 103 tachyzoites of T. gondii GT1 strain. Survival rate and body weight were monitored daily for 30 days after challenge infections. All control mice (Naïve+Cha) died within 10 days whereas mice immunized with multi-antigen VLPs (TG146 Cha) showed a survival rate of 20% (A). Also, surviving mice (TG146 Cha) retained their recovered body weights from day 19 after challenge infection (B). Parasite burden (C) was counted to determine parasite replication. Mice immunized with multi-antigen VLPs or combination VLPs showed significant reductions in T. gondii replication compared to non-immunized control mice at 7 days after challenge infection (*P < 0.01). Naïve+Cha: Naïve mice were challenge infected with T. gondii tachyzoites. TG1/TG4/TG6+Cha: Combination VLPs immunized mice were challenge infected with T. gondii tachyzoites. TG146+Cha: multi-antigen VLPs immunized mice were challenge infected with T. gondii tachyzoites.