Fig. 4

NMDAR blockade by MK-801 abrogates JEV-caused neuronal death and glia activation in mouse brain. a Diagram of in vivo experiment model. Mice were subjected to JEV infection and MK-801 treatment paradigm as described in the methods section. b The apoptotic neurons (green) in the mouse brain on day 5 after JEV infection were detected using the TUNEL Assay Kit. The right panel shows the quantification of TUNEL-positive cells. Scale bar, 100 μm. c Caspase-3 protein levels (upper panel) and enzymatic activity (lower panel) were determined by Western blot and Caspase-3 Colorimetric Assay Kit. Protein levels were quantified by immunoblot scanning and normalized to the amount of GAPDH expression. The enzymatic activity is presented as optical density values and is normalized to the control. d H&E staining and IHC to observe the pathological changes and activation of glial cells. White box visualization indicates perivascular cuffing and activated glia cells. Scale bar, 400 μm. Figures are the representative of three mice with similar results. **P < 0.01