Fig. 5

Circulating NRG-1 levels decrease while expression levels of NRG-1 in brain tissue increase in ECM mice. a Peripheral circulating blood in mice (n = 5/group) was assessed for total NRG-1 protein expression in serum by ELISA. Peripheral blood level of NRG-1 is significantly increased 6 days post infection in mice, but declined to a level below that of uninfected mice 8 days post infection (stage when mice begin to develop fatal brain damage). b Infection of C57BL/6 WT mice with PbA upregulated NRG-1 mRNA in brain tissue. c NRG-1 protein levels tested by Western blot analysis in the cortex were significantly increased in PbA-infected WT of C57 BL/6 mice. d A densitometeric analysis of bands on Western blot was performed with the ImageQuant program. The data are presented as fold stimulation relative to appropriate controls and are the mean ± SE of duplicated samples performed in three independent experiments