Lung pathology of mice infected with recombinant SARS-CoV-E-PBM mutants.

<p>16-week-old BALB/c mice were inoculated intranasally with 100,000 pfu of wt, ΔE, ΔPBM, mutPBM and potPBM viruses. (A) Gross pathology of mouse lungs infected with recombinant viruses at 2 and 4 dpi. (B) Weight of left lungs excised from infected mice sacrificed at the indicated days (n = 3, each day). Error bars represent standard deviations. (C) Lung tissue sections from mice infected with recombinant viruses were prepared at 2 and 4 dpi and stained with hematoxylin and eosin. Three independent mice per group were analyzed. (D and E) Pathology scoring in lung of mice infected with SARS-CoV recombinant mutants. Lungs were harvested at 2 and 4 days and scored in a blinded fashion using 3 mice per condition on a scale of 0 (none) to 3 (severe), estimated according to previously described procedures <a href="http://www.plospathogens.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.ppat.1004320#ppat.1004320-WohlfordLenane1" target="_blank">[34]</a>. Data are presented for edema (D) and cellular infiltrates (E). Mean values are reported and statistically significant data are indicated with two (<i>P</i><0.01) asterisks. Original magnification was 20x. Representative images are shown.