Fig 5. RABV-ED51-mBAFF activates primary murine B cells more effectively than RABV ex-vivo.

Naïve primary murine splenocytes were infected at a MOI of 5 with RABV or RABV-ED51-mBAFF, or treated with medium alone (mock infected) for two days ex-vivo. No additional mitogens were added to the culture to avoid expressing activation molecules that could enhance sensitivity to RABV infection and activation. The cells were immunostained for cell-surface expression of B220 and the activation markers CD40, CD69, and MHCII, as well as immunostained internally for the presence of RABV N, which is indicative of infection. Representative gating strategy are shown for B220⁺ B cells gated on RABV N⁺ and CD40 (A), CD69 (B) or MHCII (C). The percentage of RABVN⁺CD40⁺ B cells (D), RABVN⁺CD69⁺ B cells (E) or RABVN⁺MHCII⁺ B cells (F) are indicated. To compare two groups of data, an unpaired, two-tailed Student’s t test was use (*p≤0.05; **p≤0.01; ***p≤0.001; ****p≤0.0001; N = 3 completed in duplicate).