Fig. 1: Infection of K18 hACE2 transgenic and WT C57BL/6 mice with SARS-CoV-2.

K18 hACE2 transgenic and WT C57BL/6 female and male mice were mock-infected or infected i.n. with 1 × 10⁵ PFU of SARS-CoV-2. Body weight (a, n = 14 and n = 6 for K18 hACE2 transgenic mice infected and mock-infected respectively; n = 8 for WT infected and n = 6 for WT mock infected) and survival (b, n values equal as in a) were evaluated at the indicated DPI. Mice that loss >25% of their initial body weight were humanely euthanized. Error bars represent standard deviations (SD) of the mean for each group of mice. c–e K18 transgenic hACE2 (n = 34 mice distributed as n = 14 for 2 DPI, n = 14 for 4 DPI and n = 6 for 6 DPI, 50:50 male:female) and WT C57BL/6 (n = 16 mice distributed as n = 8 for 2 DPI and n = 8 for 4 DPI) mice were similarly infected and killed at 2 and 4 DPI and viral titers in different organs (nasal turbinate, trachea, lung, brain, heart, kidney, liver, spleen, small intestine, and large intestine) were determined by plaque assay (PFU/ml). Data from virus -containing organs and/or tissue samples are shown: nasal turbinates c, lungs d, and brain e. Symbols represent data from individual mouse, and bars represent the geometric means of viral titers, p < 0.05; p < 0.005; p < 0.0005; p < 0.0001. @ virus not detected in one mouse, & virus not detected in four mice, # virus not detected in six mice, ND not detected, NDet non-determined. Dotted lines indicate the limit of detection, LOD (10² PFU/ml). DPI days post infection. Data are combined from two independent experiments. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.