Fig. 4

Effects of N. meningitidis infection on cell-junction expression in iBECs of mono- and co-culture models. a Relative expression of genes for endothelial adherens junction proteins CD31 (PECAM1) and VE-Cadherin (CDH5), and tight junction components ZO-1 (TJP1), occludin (OCLN), and claudin-5 (CLDN5) in iBECs from direct co-culture with LMCs (blue bars) and iBEC monoculture (black/gray bars), with (light bars) or without (dark bars) N. meningitidis infection, quantified by qPCR and normalized to 18S rRNA. Data presented as mean ± SD from four independent experiments and iBEC differentiations performed in duplicate (n = 6–8). b Junction coverage of occludin in iBEC monolayers from iBEC-LMC co-cultures analyzed using confocal microscopy and JAnaP junction analyzer software [58]. Data presented as mean junction coverage ± SD from three independent experiments, calculated using average junction coverage data from three images per experiment (n = 9). Representative images were chosen based on these calculations. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, ****p < 0.0001; Student's t test; infected vs. uninfected control (blue/black asterisks directly over bars), mono vs co-culture (asterisks above brackets)