Figure 4From: Occludin and collagen IV degradation mediated by the T9SS effector SspA contributes to blood–brain barrier damage in ducks during Riemerella anatipestifer infectionSspA increases inflammatory factor expression in the brain. The mRNA expression of inflammatory factors was measured by qPCR, and relative expression was calculated using the 2−ΔΔCt method. Duck β-actin was used as a normalization control. The mRNA levels of IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IL-17A, IL-17RA, CCL3, CCL4, CCL5, CCR5, CX3CL1, CX3CL1, and CX3CR1 were significantly lower in the animals infected with the SspA deletion mutant strain Yb2ΔsspA than in the animals infected with the wild-type strain Yb2. The data are presented as the means ± standard deviations of three animals from triplicate experiments. Statistical significance was assessed using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). The asterisks indicate the level of statistical significance (*, p < 0.05; **, p < 0.01; ***, p < 0.001; ****, p < 0.0001).Back to article page