Figure 1

Evidence of increased vascular permeability during late-stage PICV infection in hamsters. A) Two groups of animals (n = 6/group) were infected with ~5 plaque-forming units of PICV or sham (MEM vehicle). On day 7 of infection, EBD-PBS was injected retro-orbitally and the ratio of EBD concentration in the kidney, liver, lung and spleen to the serum EBD concentration was evaluated. Data are expressed as the ratio of absorbance/g of tissue:absorbance of the diluted matching serum sample. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 compared to sham-infected hamsters by the Mann-Whitney test (two-tailed). B) Images taken of kidneys, livers (single lobes), lungs, and spleens harvested from a sham-infected control and a PICV-infected hamster on day 7. The serum concentration of EBD was 34% greater in the sham-infected control compared to the infected animal. On the right, images of the respective hamsters' mouths and front paws are included to show the stronger blue coloration notable in the uninfected animal. Dye was extracted from the kidneys, livers, lungs, and spleens shown and the EBD content data are represented in the associated graph.