Synchronicity of infection initiation in main cell types of the liver.

<p>(A) 2C-IHC of liver tissue sections taken at 24h after i.v. infection of immunocompromised BALB/c mice (6.5 Gy of γ-irradiation) with 1 x 10⁶ PFU of WT mCMV, simultaneously detecting viral proteins IE1 (black staining) and E1 (red staining) in nuclei of infected cells. Left image: overview. iEC, infected endothelial cell; iHc, infected hepatocyte. The framed area is shown enlarged in the right image. Bar markers represent 25 μm. (B) Cell counts in representative 10-mm² areas of liver tissue sections quantitating IE1⁺E1^- and IE1⁺E1⁺ cells differentiated by cell type as indicated. Infection had not proceeded in any cell type to expression of gB, viral DNA synthesis (vDNA detected by ISH), and the late (L) phase protein MCP. Symbols represent linked data from livers of 3 mice analyzed individually. The median values are marked.