Mutated Measles Virus Matrix and Fusion Protein Influence Viral Titer In Vitro and Neuro-Invasion in Lewis Rat Brain Slice Cultures

Figures

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  Figure 1. Replication kinetics of the measles virus (MV) clones in the presence (a) or absence (b) of the wild type MV receptor SLAM. Cells were infected using an MOI of 0.01 and quantification of the infectious virus particles was performed on Vero/hSLAM cells at the indicated time points. Virus clones were designated according to the point mutation induced. Displayed are the mean values of three distinct experiments and the standard deviation. ** = p < 0.01; *** = p < 0.001; **** = p < 0.0001.

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  Figure 2. Virus growth in Vero cells lacking the SLAM receptor. Cells were infected using an MOI of 0.01 and the MV nucleocapsid protein (red) as well as nuclei (blue) were stained at the indicated time points. As a positive control for syncytia induction, the MV Edmonston strain was used. Scale bars represent 50 µm. d.p.i. = days post infection.

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  Figure 3. Representative images of virus spread in infected rat brain slice cultures. (a) The bright-field microscopy overview of the displayed slices is shown in the top row. Green stars indicate the location of the initially infected cells and green areas illustrate virus spread up to 28 days post infection. Insets highlight the GFP signal as magnifications at the indicated time points. (b) Overlay of confocal images taken 28 d.p.i. The MV-N protein is displayed in red, the GFP signal in green and nuclei in blue. d.p.i. = days post infection.

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  Figure 4. Semi-quantitative assessment of the infection level within every slice 28 days post infection. Displayed are the individual values as well as the mean with the standard deviation, when given. Statistical evaluation has to be considered carefully, since an ANOVA was used to analyze the ordinary-scaled values. ** = p < 0.01; **** = p < 0.0001.