Fig. 5.

Development of an assay to screen for compounds inhibiting MERS-CoV replication. Vero (a, c) and Huh7 (b, d) cells in a 96-well plate format were infected at an m.o.i. of 0.005 or 0.05. Mock-infected cells (no virus) were used as a reference for unchanged cell viability (their relative viability was set at 100 %). Infected Vero cells were incubated for 2 (dark shading) or 3 (light shading) days (a) and Huh7 cells were incubated for 1 (dark shading) or 2 (light shading) days (b). (c) Vero cells were infected (dark shading) or not (light shading) with MERS-CoV (m.o.i. of 0.005) in the presence of 3 or 9 µM CsA, or 0.09 % DMSO as a solvent control. (d) Huh7 cells were infected (dark shading) or not (light shading) with MERS-CoV (m.o.i. of 0.005) in the presence of 3.75, 7.5 or 15 µM CsA, or 0.15 % DMSO. The graphs in (c) and (d) show the results of a representative experiment (mean±sd; n = 4). All experiments were repeated at least twice.