Animals used for study.

aViral loads are SIV vRNA copies/mL of plasma and the detection limit of this assay was 125 copies of vRNA/ml of plasma as reported previously [53]. bAnimal 27776 was given i.vag. aldithriol-2 (AT-2)-inactivated SIVmac239, using the same inoculation schedule as that for the other animals inoculated i.vag. with SIVmac. This animal, had no signs of infection and was considered an uninfected control. cViral loads measured 1 week prior being placed on an ART regimen, which lasted 5 weeks. Parentheses are viral load measurements at time of euthanasia (i.e. 5 weeks post ART). dPathology reports were not available for these animals, thus only major clinical findings are reported but ehaematoxylin and eosin stains were examined on tissues when possible. However, we did have sufficient tissue to perform large bowel histopathological evaluation, which are also reported. fViral load measured 4 weeks before euthanasia. gViral load at time of tissue biopsy. ND, not determined. NR, not relevant, NF, none found.