Figure 4

Expression of Toll-like receptors for bacterial elements in the central nervous system of SJL/J and C57BL/6 mice after infection with Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus. C57BL/6 mice were further treated twice with lipopolysaccharide to increased susceptibility to Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus (TMEV). The coronal sections (25 mm) we taken from X-ray films (Biomax, Kodak, exposed 3 days) and are representative hybridization signals for Toll-like receptors (TLR) TLR2, TLR4 and TLR6 near the level of injection (cortical slices) and in the spinal cord. Please note the concordant expression all of the TLRs in areas similar to VP1 expression (see Fig 1) in SJL/J mice. Bottom panel shows quantitative analysis of TLRs signal optical density (O.D.) in representative spinal cord sections. TLR2 and TLR6 were found to be significantly expressed in infected SJL/J mice, while TLR4 expression was noted but did not reach significance. TLR2 was the only TLR expression to reach significance in infected C57BL/6. Vehicle injection had no effect on TLR expression. Data presented as mean ± SEM. **: ANOVA significant main effect of TMEV vs Vehicle, p < 0.05; *: significant TMEV vs Vehicle pair wise comparison within strain, Bonferonni corrected t-test p < 0.05; ††: ANOVA significant main effect of SJL/J vs C57BL/6, p < 0.05; †: significant SJL/J vs C57/BL6 pair wise comparison within TMEV treatment, Bonferonni corrected t-test p < 0.05.