The pathogenicity comparison of Lagovirus europaeus GI.1 and GI.2 strains in China by using relative quantitative assay

Figures

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  Figure 1. Temperature changes preceding death following GI.1 infection. To ensure the data were accurate, 6 researchers measured each rabbit's rectal temperature every three hours after infection, day and night. Mean temperature for timepoint is listed with the standard deviation. Red dotted lines indicate when rabbits were sacrificed/died at different timepoints. (a) Body temperature changes before the adults’ humane endpoint (at 24 hpi); (b) Body temperature changes before the subadults’ humane endpoint (at 36 hpi); (c) Body temperature changes before the kittens were sacrificed (at 72 hpi).

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  Figure 2. Temperature changes preceding death following GI.2 infection. To ensure the data were accurate, 6 researchers measured each rabbit's rectal temperature every three hours after infection, day and night. Mean temperature for timepoint is listed with the standard deviation. Red dotted lines indicate when rabbits were sacrificed/died at different timepoints. (a) Body temperature changes before the kittens’ humane endpoint (at 18 hpi); (b) Body temperature changes before the subadults’ humane endpoint (at 21 hpi); (c) Body temperature changes before the adults’ humane endpoint (at 30 hpi).

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  Figure 3. Viral copies in blood, feces, and saliva over time after GI.1 infection. The red, black, and blue broken lines represent the dynamic changes of viral copies in blood, feces, and saliva, respectively. Mean value is listed with the standard deviation. The orange line represent the control group, and the viral copies of samples tested at each timepoint was 0. After GI.1 infection, (a) for kittens, the viral copies in blood and saliva increased first and then decreased, while the viral copies in feces remained stable; while the viral copies in blood, saliva and feces in (b) subadults and (c) adults showed an increasing and then stabilizing trend.

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  Figure 4. Viral copies in blood, feces, and saliva over time after GI.2 infection. The red, black, and blue broken lines represent the dynamic changes of viral copies in blood, feces, and saliva, respectively. Mean value is listed with the standard deviation. The orange line represent the control group, and the viral copies of samples tested at each timepoint was 0. After GI.2 infection, all rabbits [(a) kittens, (b) subadults, (c) adults] had an increased viral copies in blood, while the viral copies in feces and saliva remained stable after 6 hpi.

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  Figure 5. Column representation of visceral viral loads and a pathological scores of rabbits infected with GI.1. The viral load was calculated according to the formula 2−ΔΔCT. The higher the ΔCt value is, the lower the 2−ΔΔCT value is. The heart with the highest ΔCt value and the lowest expression of GI.1 was selected as Calibrator. Different asterisks indicate significant differences, *(p < 0.05), **(p < 0.01), ***(p < 0.001), ****(p < 0.0001); ns means the difference is not significant (p > 0.05).

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  Figure 6. Column representation of visceral viral loads and a pathological scores of rabbits infected with GI.2. The viral load was calculated according to the formula 2−ΔΔCT. The higher the ΔCt value is, the lower the 2−ΔΔCT value is. The kidney with the highest ΔCt value and the lowest expression of GI.1 was selected as Calibrator. Different asterisks indicate significant differences, *(p < 0.05), **(p < 0.01), ***(p < 0.001), ****(p < 0.0001); ns means the difference is not significant (p > 0.05).