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. 2019 Mar 22;2(2):e201800292. doi: 10.26508/lsa.201800292

Figure 5. ASM is essential for A. phagocytophilum to productively infect mice.

Figure 5.

(A) A. phagocytophilum fails to productively infect ASM−/− mice. (A) ASMase−/− mice or WT mice were infected with A. phagocytophilum DC organisms. Peripheral blood drawn on days 4, 8, 12, 16, 21, and 28 d postinfection was analyzed by qPCR. Relative levels of the A. phagocytophilum 16S rRNA gene were normalized to those of β-actin using the 2−ΔΔCT method. (B) Desipramine reduces the A. phagocytophilum DNA load in the peripheral blood when administered to infected mice. A. phagocytophilum–infected WT mice were administered desipramine or PBS on days 7 through 12 postinfection, and the bacterial DNA load in the peripheral blood was determined using qPCR. Error bars indicate SD. t test was used to test for a significant difference among pairs. Statistically significant (**P < 0.01) values are indicated. Data shown in (A) are representative of eight experiments each of which were conducted with 5–7 mice per group. Data shown in (B) are representative of three experiments each of which were conducted with 5–7 mice per group.