Figure 3.

Infection with SARS-CoV-2 MA10 virus induces neuroinflammation in aged mice

(A) Representative images of plaque assays performed on homogenized brain tissue collected from MA10-infected 3-, 6-, and 20-month-old mice. (B) Histogram depicting quantification of viral plaque assay to determine the concentration of infectious particles present in brain tissue (PFU/mL). (C) Histogram depicting mRNA fold change of CoV-2 nucleoprotein (N) expression in brains collected from MA10-infected mice compared with mock. (D) Histograms depicting mRNA fold change of proinflammatory genes (Il6, Tnfα, and Ccl20), and inflammasome genes (Nlrp3, Ifi204, Ilβ), in infected brain. n = 3; data expressed as mean ± SEM; ∗ compared with respective mock; # 18 DPI compared with 4 DPI of the same brain region; ∗,#p < 0.05 by ANOVA with Holm-Sidak test.