Figure 4.

Axl Drives Apoptosis in the Brain of ZIKV-Infected Mice

Six-week old Ifnar1^−/− or Ifnar1^−/−Axl^−/− mice were subcutaneously infected via footpad injection with 10⁵ plaque-forming unit Cambodian strain of ZIKV.

(A–C) At day 6, when mice begin to show viral pathogenesis, mice were sacrificed, brains were collected, fixed in buffered formalin, and prepared for histology. Slides were stained using the TUNEL assay, and the entire brain was imaged at 20×. Shown are (A) the ventral striatum, (B) the cerebellum, and (C) the hippocampus (n = 4/group for each genotype). Scale bar, 500 μM in main image and 100 μM in inset image.