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. 2021 Jul 16;12:4354. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-24521-x

Fig. 2. SARS-CoV-2 preferentially targets ciliated cells and damages the ciliary layer.

Fig. 2

A, B Confocal imaging of a SARS-CoV-2-infected epithelium at 2 dpi (A, top section) and of control (Mock) and infected epithelia at 4 dpi (B, orthogonal sections). Ciliated cells are labeled for β-tubulin IV (red), basal cells for cytokeratin-5 (yellow), nuclei for DNA (Hoechst, blue), and infected cells for the SARS-CoV-2 spike (green). The green line in 2B is due to the autofluorescence of the insert porous membrane. C, D Representative images of the β-tubulin layer at 4 dpi (C) and corresponding image analysis (D) (n = 3 independent experiments with 1–4 replicates for D4; n = 2 independent experiments with 2–3 replicates for D2 and D7; Mann–Whitney test). E Percentage % of spike+ cells, measured as (number of spike+ cell/number of nuclei) × 100 (n = 5 independent experiments with 1–5 replicates for D2 and D4; n = 3 independent experiments with 3 replicates for D7; Mann–Whitney test). F, G SEM imaging of mock-infected (E) and SARS-CoV-2-infected (F) reconstructed epithelia at 4 dpi.