FIG 4.

Lung pathology in SARS-CoV-infected mice due to the presence of E protein PBM from attenuated or virulent β-hCoVs. Groups of six 16-week-old mice were mock infected or inoculated with 100,000 PFU of a SARS-CoV including E proteins with a PBM derived either from the SARS/SARS-2-CoV, or from MERS-CoV, hCoV-OC43, hCoV-HKU1, or with the PBM replaced by four glycines (PBM⁻). Three mice from each group were euthanized, and lungs were collected at 2 and 4 dpi. Lungs were fixed in formalin with zinc, embedded in kerosene, and cut and stained with hematoxylin and eosin. Cellular infiltration (A) and edema (B) scores were determined in lung samples as indicated in Materials and Methods (n = 3/group). The vertical bars represent the mean and the standard deviation of the data obtained in the lung of each of the three mice used for each experimental setting. Unpaired t test: *, P < 0.05; **, P < 0.01; ***, P < 0.001; ****, P < 0.0001.