FIG 1.

CVB3-induced lethality, fecal shedding, and dissemination are enhanced by testosterone. (A) Serum testosterone concentrations in mock or castrated male C57BL/6 Ifnar^−/− provided with either placebo or testosterone capsules. **, P < 0.01. one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). (B) Survival of castrated + placebo (testosterone-depleted) and castrated + testosterone (testosterone-treated) mice after oral inoculation with 5 × 10⁷ PFU of CVB3-Nancy. n = 8 to 9 mice per group. **, P < 0.01, ***, P < 0.001; log-rank test. (C) CVB3-Nancy fecal titers in testosterone-depleted (gray) and testosterone-treated (blue with diagonal lines) mice at days 2 and 3 postinoculation. n = 15 to 16 mice per group. **, P < 0.01, ***, P < 0.001; Mann-Whitney test. (D) CVB3-Nancy tissue titers. Mice were euthanized at 3 dpi, and tissues were collected from testosterone-depleted (gray) and testosterone-treated (blue with diagonal lines) Ifnar^−/− mice. n = 8 to 9 mice per group. *, P < 0.05; Mann-Whitney test. Data are shown as mean ± the standard error of the mean (SEM). LOD = limit of detection.