FIGURE 2.
Circ_0001806 mouse counterpart siRNA contributed to the higher fungal burden and shorter survival in experimental murine cryptococcosis. Six- to eight-week-old C57BL/6 female mice were anesthetized with 2% isoflurane anesthesia followed by intranasal infection of 5 × 105 fresh H99 cells to establish experimental cryptococcosis model. One day before infection, 10 OD cholesterol-modified circ_0001806 mouse counterpart siRNA and control siRNA were intraperitoneally (i.p.) injected. (A) Two weeks after infection, CFU of lungs and brains from eight mice transfected with circ_0001806 mouse counterpart siRNA and controls were determined. (B) The survival percentages of the siRNA group (blue squares) and the nc group (red squares) were tested. (C–F) Representative histopathological images of the lungs and the brains from the siRNA group (C,E) and the control group (D,F) using H&E and PAS staining. (G,H) H&E histological scores of the lungs (G) and the brains (H) from the siRNA group and the control group. Data are shown as the means ± SD from triplicate samples in groups of eight animals. Unpaired t-test was used to calculate p-values.