Zika Virus RNA Replication and Persistence in Brain and Placental Tissue
Julu Bhatnagar
, Demi B. Rabeneck, Roosecelis B. Martines, Sarah Reagan-Steiner, Yokabed Ermias, Lindsey B.C. Estetter, Tadaki Suzuki, Jana M. Ritter, M. Kelly Keating, Gillian Hale, Joy Gary, Atis Muehlenbachs, Amy J. Lambert, Robert Lanciotti, Titilope Oduyebo, Dana Meaney-Delman, Fernando Bolaños, Edgar Alberto Parra Saad, Wun-Ju Shieh, and Sherif Zaki
Author affiliations: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA (J. Bhatnagar, D.B. Rabeneck, R.B. Martines, S. Reagan-Steiner, Y. Ermias, L.B.C. Estetter, T. Suzuki, J. Ritter, M.K. Keating, G. Hale, J. Gary, A. Muehlenbachs, T. Oduyebo, D. Meaney-Delman, W. Shieh, S.R. Zaki); Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA (A. Lambert, R. Lanciotti); Patología Hospital Universitario de Neiva, Neiva, Colombia (F. Bolaños); Instituto Nacional de Salud, Bogota, Colombia (E.A. Parra Saad)
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Figure 1
Figure 1. Zika virus RNA load levels in human brain and placental tissues. The scatter plot graph shows the relative levels of Zika virus RNA in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue sections, which were quantified by real-time quantitative reverse transcription PCR by using primer-probe sets for Zika virus envelope gene and β-actin mRNA. β-actin mRNA was used as an internal reference gene that provided a normalization factor for the amount of RNA extracted from a section. The copy number of Zika virus RNA per cell was calculated using β-actin mRNA copy number, which was estimated to be 1,500 copies/cell. The graph shows individual data points and superimposed horizontal lines at the geometric mean, and error bars show the 95% CI for that geometric mean. p values were calculated with nonparametric 1-way analysis of variance (Kruskal-Wallis test) followed by Dunn multiple comparison tests. The relative Zika virus RNA copy numbers for second/third trimester or full-term placentas were statistically significantly lower than those for first trimester placentas or infant brain tissues.
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