Fig. 7: CD8⁺ T cells are important to prevent significant testicular damage upon long-term ZIKV infection in C57BL/6 J mice transiently treated with anti-IFN antibodies.

A Histology of WT C57BL/6 J mice or CD8^−/− mice testes. Mice were infected intraperitoneally with a target dose of 5log₁₀ PFU/mouse. In the experiment related to this figure, 3 mice were used for each of the PBS groups, and 10 mice were used for each of the CD8^−/− groups. B Testicular weight. Statistical significance was assessed with one-way ANOVA with Sidak’s multiple comparison correction in between WT and CD8^−/− conditions, either uninfected or infected. Bars show mean and error bars represent standard deviation. C Percentage of spermatogenesis quantified from the histology by a pathologist blinded to the samples. Statistical significance was assessed using one-way ANOVA with Sidak’s multiple comparison correction. Groups using WT mice were compared against groups using CD8^−/− mice only within the same treatment, and groups of mice injected with PBS were compared to groups of mice injected with ZIKV only for the same mouse type. Lines represent the mean. D, E Immunofluorescence of testicular samples showing cell nuclei (blue), ZIKV envelope protein (red), and DDX-4 (green). The brightness and contrast of these images were adjusted for optimal visibility. The white arrows show cell detachment from the wall of the ST. *p < 0.05.