Reduced viral burden in paralytic compared to furious canine rabies is associated with prominent inflammation at the brainstem level

Table 4 Comparison of rabies viral antigen and RNA in major CNS regions in canine furious rabies

	Spinal cord		Brainstem		Cerebellum		Cerebral midline		Cerebrum
	(Mean ± SD)	P value	(Mean ± SD)	P value	(Mean ± SD)	P value	(Mean ± SD)	P value	(Mean ± SD)	P value
*% RABV antigen-positive neurons*
Spinal cord	97.32 ± 1.09			0.013		0.013		0.013		0.013
Brainstem		0.013	72.17 ± 14.99			0.377		0.024		0.014
Cerebellum		0.013		0.377	68.0 ± 14.07			0.038		0.014
Cerebral midline		0.013		0.024		0.038	49.69 ± 17.72			0.125
Cerebrum		0.013		0.014		0.014		0.125	36.75 ± 19.18
*% RABV antigen area in positive neuron*
Spinal cord	8.55 ± 2.7			0.228		0.026		0.013		0.026
Brainstem		0.228	7.62 ± 2.49			0.014		0.004		0.023
Cerebellum		0.026		0.014	2.97 ± 2.67			0.174		0.125
Cerebral midline		0.013		0.004		0.174	3.01 ± 0.43			0.301
Cerebrum		0.026		0.024		0.125		0.301	3.77 ± 1.62
*% RABV antigen-positive area per neuron*
Spinal cord	8.35 ± 2.7			0.089		0.026		0.013		0.013
Brainstem		0.089	5.95 ± 2.75			0.024		0.008		0.014
Cerebellum		0.026		0.024	2.16 ± 2.36			0.232		0.458
Cerebral midline		0.013		0.008		0.232	1.67 ± 0.72			0.338
Cerebrum		0.013		0.014		0.458		0.338	1.63 ± 1.29
*RABV RNA* (copies/μg total RNA) × 10⁸
Spinal cord	3.16 ± 3.04			0.089		0.327		0.148		0.148
Brainstem		0.089	6.66 ± 3.57			0.024		0.301		0.174
Cerebellum		0.327		0.024	2.66 ± 2.18			0.059		0.174
Cerebral midline		0.148		0.301		0.059	7.64 ± 5.81			0.232
Cerebrum		0.148		0.174		0.174		0.232	5.69 ± 4.89

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