In vivo virulence of MHC-adapted AIDS virus serially-passaged through MHC-mismatched hosts
Fig 5
Comparison of plasma viral loads after wild-type SIV (WtSIV) and 3pSIV infection.
A. Changes in viral loads in 90-120-Ia+ macaques infected with WtSIV (n = 6, black) or 3pSIV (n = 6, red). Plasma viral loads (SIV gag RNA copies/ml plasma) were determined as described previously [26]. The lower limit of detection is approximately 4 x 102 copies/ml. The upper panel shows data on individual animals and the lower geometric means. B. Changes in viral loads in 90-120-Ia- macaques infected with WtSIV (n = 10, black) or 3pSIV (n = 6, red). The upper panel shows data on individual animals and the lower geometric means. No significant difference was observed in 90-120-Ia- macaques between WtSIV and 3pSIV infection. C. Comparison of viral loads in 90-120-Ia+ macaques in the acute phase (at weeks [wk] 1, 2, and 3) and at the setpoint (at months [mo] 4.5, 6, and 8) after WtSIV and 3pSIV infection. 3pSIV-infected animals showed significantly higher viral loads than WtSIV not at wk 1 or wk 2 but at wk 3, mo 4.5, mo 6, and mo 8 (by Mann-Whitney U-test). Data on viral loads in WtSIV-infected 90-120-Ia+ and 90-120-Ia- macaques were previously reported [25].