FIG 7.

Testosterone promotes CVB3 shedding and dissemination, but not lethality, in female Ifnar^−/− mice. (A) Serum testosterone concentrations in female C57BL/6 Ifnar^−/− mice provided with either placebo or testosterone capsules. (B) Survival of female C57BL/6 Ifnar^−/− mice provided with either placebo or testosterone capsules after oral inoculation with 5 × 10⁷ PFU of CVB3-Nancy. (C) CVB3-Nancy fecal titers in female C57BL/6 Ifnar^−/− mice provided with either placebo or testosterone. *, P < 0.05; Mann-Whitney test. (D) CVB3-Nancy tissue titers in female C57BL/6 Ifnar^−/− mice provided with either placebo or testosterone. All data are from two to three independent experiments with n = 5 to 8 mice per group. *, P < 0.05, **, P < 0.01; Mann-Whitney test. LOD = limit of detection.