Fig. 7
Acetate protects against RSV infection in an IFNAR-dependent manner. Female BALB/c mice were treated with 200 mM acetate in drinking water and infected with RSV (107 PFU/mL) for 24, 48, 72, and 120 h. a Ifnb1 gene expression in the lung detected at different time points after infection (2-ΔCt analysis in real-time PCR) (n = 5). b IFN-β protein detected in the BALF or lung homogenates c at different time points after infection (n = 5). d Oas1 and Isg15 gene expression in the lung (2-ΔCt analysis in real-time PCR) (n = 5). e Pulmonary epithelial cells from female naïve BALB/c mice were treated with acetate (260 µM) for 24 h and then infected with RSV (104 PFU/mL) for a further 24 h to detect IFN-β production (by ELISA) and Ifnb1 expression (fold change compared to untreated/uninfected control) (n = quadruplicate mean of 4 animals). f Ifnb1 expression of CD45+CD326- and CD45-CD326+ sorted cells from lung of mice acetate-treated and RSV-infected for 72 h (n = 5). g IFN-β production by alveolar macrophages of mouse untreated or treated with acetate in drinking water (200 mM) for 5 days and infected ex vivo with RSV (104 PFU/ml) for 24 h (n = 6). Gate strategy, pre-sorting and post-sorting panel are shown in Supplementary Fig. 9. h–l Wild-type and Ifnar-/- mice were simultaneously infected with RSV and treated with 200 mM acetate in drinking water. Analyses were performed on day 5 post infection. h Percentage body weight loss post infection relative to initial weight (day 0) (n = 8). i RSV viral load detected in lung tissue by real-time PCR (viral copies/g lung tissue) (n = 8). j Viral titer in the lung (PFUs/g lung tissue) (n = 5). k Inflammation score of lung histology (n = 3). l Immunohistochemistry staining of RSV in lung tissue sections. All data are expressed as mean ± SEM. Data are from two independent experiments. Statistical significance between groups was determined with Kruskal–Wallis, except in e, in which Mann–Whitney was used. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001. Data in a, b, c, d, f, h, i, j are provided as a Source Data file
