Morphology of human neural (HN) cells before (a, c, and e) and after (b, d, and f) infection with herpes simplex virus type-1 (HSV-1). (a) Control, 24 h ×10 magnification and (b) HSV-1 infected, 24 h ×10 magnification; note rounding up of cell bodies and loss of normal HN cell morphology (arrows). (c) Control, 24 h ×20 magnification, (d) HSV-1 infected, 24 h ×20 magnification, (e) control, 48 h ×20 magnification, and (f) HSV-1 infected, 48 h ×20 magnification; as indicated by arrows, note progressive atrophy of cell bodies and neurite extensions, cellular blebbing, and irregular morphology of HN cell bodies after 48 h HSV-1 infection.

(a) Specific upregulation of miRNA-146a (coordinate 2C) on miRNA array panels and (b) signal quantitation of miRNA Northern dot blots. Individual miRNA panels were probed with total miRNA obtained from control and herpes simplex virus type-1 (HSV-1)-infected human neural (HN) cells (48 h) (a) and the results were compared; by convention, blue fluorescence indicates no expression detected and green-brown fluorescence indicates nonsignificant changes compared with controls. Column 1A–1H represents eight hybridization controls whose identity can be found at www.lcsciences.com; other miRNA signals are for miRNA-144 (2A), miRNA-145 (2B) miRNA-146b (2D), miRNA-147 (2E), miRNA-148a (2F), miRNA-148b (2G), miRNA-149 (2H). Those miRNAs that were detected in HN cells, but whose relative signal strength neither increased nor decreased significantly after HSV-1 infection were miRNA-200b (3D), miRNA-200c (3E), miRNA-202 (3F) and miRNA-203 (3H). (b) N=4; significance over ‘0’ time controls; *P<0.05; **P<0.01 (analysis of variance). miRNA, microRNA.

Western-based analysis showing specific upregulation relative abundance of human cytosolic phospholipase A₂ (cPLA₂), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), and interleukin-1β (IL-1β) in 0, 24, and 48 h herpes simplex virus type-1 (HSV-1)-infected human neural cells and downregulation of complement factor H (CFH); the relative signal strength for β-actin did not significantly change after HSV-1 infection; N=4; significance over ‘0’ time controls; *P<0.01 (analysis of variance).