Figure 2.
Serum corticosterone and ACTH levels after MCMV infection. Corticosterone and ACTH levels were measured in serum samples collected from C57BL/6 mice under low stress conditions (mice were bled within 4 min of handling for corticosterone measurement and within 2 min of handling for ACTH measurement). Serum corticosterone was measured at 12-h intervals between 12 and 72 h (A) or 2–4-h intervals between 24 and 48 h (B) and serum ACTH was measured at 4–6-h intervals between 18 and 36 h after MCMV (5 × 104 PFU/mouse) infection (open circles) or vehicle injection (open squares). In A, data are mean ± SE of four mice per time point. In B, data are means ± SD of two mice per time point. For C, data are means ± SE of three mice per time point. *P <0.05, **P <0.01.