Figure 5
From: Repurposing of the anti-malaria drug chloroquine for Zika Virus treatment and prophylaxis
CQ represses ZIKV infection in SJL mice and reduces vertical transmission. (a) Schematic of the experimental design. SJL dams were infected with ZIKV (2 × 105 PFU) on E12.5. On E13.5, they were randomly assigned to receive vehicle or CQ (30 mg/kg/day) in the drinking water. On E18.5, mice were euthanized for collection of blood and foetuses. (b) qRT-PCR of viral RNA. Each point represents one animal. Data are the mean ± SD of 3 (vehicle-treated) or 5 (CQ-treated) mice. *p < 0.05 by Student’s t-test. (c) qRT-PCR of viral RNA in foetal head extracts. Each point represents one foetus. Data are the mean ± SD of 8 foetuses pooled from 3 independent litters (control) or 5 foetuses pooled from 2 independent litters (CQ). *p < 0.05 by Student’s t-test. (d) Representative images of foetal brain sections from control, ZIKV-infected, and ZIKV-infected/CQ-treated mice on E18.5. Sections were stained with a primary antibody against Flavivirus Group Antigen (brown) and counterstained with Mayer’s hematoxylin (blue). Scale bar, 4 mm. (e) Quantification of ZIKV-infected cells in foetal brain sections from control, ZIKV-infected, and ZIKV-infected/CQ-treated mice. Data are the mean ± SEM of 6 sections per condition (3 embryos, 2 sections per embryo). *p < 0.05 compared with untreated ZIKV-infected mice by one-way ANOVA with Dunnett’s multiple comparisons test.
