Fig. 7.

MHV-A59 infection reduced Cx43 expression at total protein level and decreased functional gap junctional communication. a Immunoblot showing a reduction in total Cx43 expression in primary meningeal fibroblast cultures infected with MHV-A59 at MOI of 2 and 24 h p.i. compared to mock-infected controls. Blots were re-probed with γ-actin to monitor equal protein loading. Histogram (lower panel) depicts percentage values (mean ± SEM) of Cx43 protein expression (Student’s t test; **p < 0.01). b Representative photomicrograph and histogram depicting a significant reduction in functional gap junction communication in primary meningeal fibroblast cultures infected with MHV-A59 compared to control as detected by LY dye transfer in a scrape-loading assay. Arrow indicates the site of scrape loading with LY and distance of dye spread. Histogram (lower panel) represents quantitation of data from three independent experiments. Values are mean ± SEM (Student’s t test; ****p < 0.0001)