Figure 2.

AgNPs decreased RSV replication in the lung tissue of experimentally infected mice. Under light anesthesia, mice were intranasally inoculated with either phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), AgNP-PBS (2 mg/kg or 4 mg/kg), RSV (5 × 10⁶ PFU) or AgNP-RSV. Lung tissue collected at day five p.i. was measured for (A) viral titer by qRT-PCR. Over the five-day infection period, mice were monitored daily for changes in (B) bodyweight and (C) illness score. (D) Airway obstruction, represented by baseline Penh, was assessed by unrestrained plethysmography (Buxco Electronics, Inc., Sharon, CT, USA). (E) Total protein concentrations of the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) at days one and five p.i. were determined using the Bradford method (BioRad Laboratories, Hercules, CA, USA). Data are expressed as mean ± SEM (n ≥ 5 mice) and is representative of three independent experiments. Significant results as compared to the respective control are marked with asterisks, and additional comparisons between groups are indicated with brackets (* for p ≤ 0.05, ** for p ≤ 0.01, *** for p ≤ 0.001, **** for p ≤ 0.0001). Not detected (n.d).