Figure 9.

Syncytia formation facilitates sustained autophagy in PPRV-infected EECs. (A) GFP-LC3 EECs treated with DMSO or rapamycin (100 nM) or infected with PPRV (MOI = 3) were further cultured in the absence or presence of 10 μg/mL FIP for 48 h. The number of autophagic vesicles was determined by confocal immunofluorescence microscopy. Scale bars, 20 μm. (B) Corresponding graph showing the number of GFP⁺-LC3 vesicles per cell profile of FIP-treated EECs. (C) EECs were treated as described in A. Cell samples were analyzed by immunoblotting with anti-LC3, anti-SQSTM1, anti-PPRV-N and anti-ACTB (loading control) antibodies. The target protein levels relative to the ACTB levels in the FIP-treated EECs were determined by densitometry. (D) EECs were treated with FIP and infected with PPRV for 48 h. The viral titers were measured using the TCID₅₀ method. The data represent the mean ± SD of three independent experiments. Two-way ANOVA; *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001; ^#P > 0.05.