Fig 2: The amount of cytokine/chemokine in the lung and trachea tissue homogenates from K18-hACE2 mice infected with SARS-CoV-2 (USA-WA1/2020) inoculum incubated with PBS (Group 3.1) or astodrimer sodium 1% nasal spray (Group 3.2) for 60 min prior to the neutralisation procedure—virucidal evaluation: (a) IL-6 (b) IL-1a (c) IL-1ß (d) TNFa (e) TGFß (f) MCP-1. The first (grey) column of each matched data set is the group treated with PBS and the second (blue) column is the group treated with astodrimer sodium 1% nasal spray. Columns and error bars represent means ± SEM. * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001, paired t-tests.

Fig 3: Effects of the irisin treatment on muscle and body weights in sham and nephrectomy (Nx) mice. (A,B) Serum samples were collected from mice 8 weeks after the last Nx or sham surgery. Serum blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine, calcium, phosphorus, parathyroid hormone (PTH), TNF-a, and IL-6 levels were analysed. (C,D) Body weight was measured 8 weeks after the last Nx or sham surgery. Fat mass in the whole body was assessed by QCT 8 weeks after the last Nx or sham surgery. Visceral white adipose tissue (WAT) was weighed 8 weeks after the last Nx or sham surgery. (E) Muscle mass in the whole body was assessed by QCT 8 weeks after the last Nx or sham surgery. The gastrocnemius (GA) and soleus muscles of mice were weighed 8 weeks after the last Nx or sham surgery. The grip strength of the four limbs was measured using a grip strength metre in mice 8 weeks after the last Nx or sham surgery. (F) Total proteins were extracted from the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles of mice 8 weeks after the last Nx or sham surgery. Western blot analyses of phosphorylated Akt (pAkt) at Ser473, Akt, phosphorylated p70 S6 kinase (pS6K) at Thr389, p70 S6 kinase (S6K), and GAPDH were performed. Images represent experiments performed independently at least four times. Data represent the mean ± standard error of the mean. n = 8 mice (A–E) and 4 mice (F) in each group. Cont, control. *P < 0.05 and **P < 0.01.

Fig 4: Effect of Met and EGCG on plasma levels of IL-1ß (pg/ml; a), IL-6 (pg/ml; b), TNF-a (pg/ml; c), CRP (ng/ml; d), and IL-13 (pg/ml; e) in all experimental groups. Data are shown as mean ± SEM (n = 6). A single asterisk (*) indicates significance at P < 0.05 and triple asterisks and triple ampersands (***, &&&) indicate significance at P < 0.001. A single asterisk and triple asterisks (*, ***) indicate comparisons with respect to the control group. Triple ampersands (&&&) indicate comparisons with respect to the methionine group. Cont, control; EGCG, epigallocatechin-3-gallate; Met, methionine; Met + EGCG, methionine + epigallocatechin-3-gallate

Fig 5: Deletion of Orai1 impairs synthesis of proinflammatory mediators from spinal microglia.(A to D) WT (Orai1fl/fl) or Orai1 cKO primary microglia cultured for 7 to 10 days and then stimulated with LPS (1 ng/ml) for 18 hours. Levels of IL-6, TNFa, and PGE2 were measured in the cell culture supernatant by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Cells obtained from male and female pups were cultured separately. Because of the low yield of microglia from spinal tissue, cells from two pups of the same sex were combined before the experiment. Therefore, each point represents the measurement from two animals (one flask). n = 7 to 9 measurements from 14 to 18 mice. ***P < 0.001 and *P < 0.05 by two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by Tukey test for comparison between multiple groups. (E to G) Cytokine measurements in microglia stimulated with TG (0.25 µM) and PDBu (25 nM). Cytokine levels were measured in the supernatant 18 hours following cell stimulation. n = 7 to 9 measurements from 14 to 18 mice. ***P < 0.001, **P < 0.01, and *P < 0.05 by two-way ANOVA followed by Tukey test for comparison between multiple groups. DMSO, dimethyl sulfoxide; N.S., not significant.