Figure 3

IFN responsive gene expression in the brains and spleens of individual ME7 infected and mock infected C57BL/6 mice. cDNA from whole brains and spleens of 9 ME7 infected and 10 mock infected C57BL/6 mice that were analyzed in a blinded fashion. Equal amounts of cDNA from the 10 mock infected samples were pooled to make an eleventh sample. Each data point represents the mean of three independent quantitative real-time PCR reactions for each gene normalized to the average level of expression exhibited by the mock infected samples. Filled diamonds represent those samples obtained from brains of ME7 infected C57BL/6 mice. The shaded circles represent cDNA samples obtained from age-matched mock infected C57BL/6 mice. The lines represent the mean value of the 20 samples for each gene. A clear segregation of the infected and mock-infected samples based upon the relative expression of any of the three interferon responsive genes was observed in brain tissue (A, Eif2ak2 p = 1.39E^-23, 2'5'-OAS p = 7.04E^-21, Mx2 p = 7.08E^-26). A random distribution of infected and mock infected samples derived from the corresponding spleen tissue relative to the mean of the sample set was observed (B, Eif2ak2 p = 0.75, 2'5'-OAS p = 0.80, Mx2 p = 0.48).