Fig 1: HCMV-IE2 affects the proliferation and differentiation of neural stem cells. a Immunofluorescence for P2, P4, P6, P8, and P10 cerebral cortex, with primary antibodies against SOX2 (greed), Ki67 (red), and Alexa Fluor 488- and 555-conjugated secondary antibodies. Scale bar, 50 µm. b Ki67SOX2 cells per µm++2 at stages P2, P4, P6, P8, and P10 cerebral cortex from the experiment. c Immunofluorescence for P2, P4, P6, P8, and P10 cerebral cortex, with primary antibodies against Ki67 (red), PAX6 (greed), and FITC- and CY3-conjugated secondary antibodies. Scale bar, 50 µm. d Statistical analysis of Ki67PAX6 cells per µm++2 at stages P2, P4, P6, P8, and P10 cerebral cortex from the experiment shown in c. e P10 cerebral cortex stained with immunostained for NEUN (red). DAPI (blue). The territories in the e red boxes are expanded in the right panels. Scale bar, 100 µm (f); 50 µm (h). f Statistical analysis of %TBR1 area at stage P10 cerebral cortex from the experiment presented in e. g P10 cerebral cortex stained with immunostained for TBR1 (green). DAPI (blue). Scale bar, 100 µm. h Quantification of %TBR1 area at stage P10 cerebral cortex from the experiment shown in g. Ctrl represents Rosa26-LSL-IE2+++/- mice; IE2 represents Rosa26-LSL-IE2+/-, Camk2a-Cre mice. Error bars indicate SEM of nine sections from three independent experiments (*P < 0.05, ** P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001, ****P < 0.0001). P2, n = 9/3; P4, n = 9/3; P6, n = 9/3; P8, n = 9/3; P10, n = 9/3. n, number of slices/different brains