Analysis of rat ankle tissues. Ankle tissue imaging by micro-computed tomography (µ-CT) was performed on rat ankle joints from a a healthy rat, rats injected with b BVCAR alone, c HAdV5-PUMA alone and animals injected with BVCAR HAdV5-PUMA at vector doses of d 107 PFU per joint, and e 109 PFU per joint respectively. (left) Parasagittal three-dimensional views of the whole rat ankles. (right) The enlarged images of the µ-CT parasagittal slices showing, from left to right, the intermediate cuneiform, navicular and distal talus. The white arrows point at local bone erosions. Scale bars, 1 mm. f Histological analysis and quantification of infiltrates was also performed. The bar graph shows the number of infiltrating cells, expressed as the ratio to their number in BVCAR control samples (mean ± s.e.m.; data from 30 slides per group). ANOVA: analysis of variance; §§§: ANOVA, P < 0.001; ***P < 0.0001 by Newman–Keuls post-hoc tests. Note that (i) BVCARHAdV5-PUMA strongly reduced the density of inflammatory cells in the joints, compared to control BVCAR or HAdV5-PUMA; (ii) BVCARHAdV5-PUMA was more effective at 109 PFU, compared to 107 PFU, demonstrating a dose-dependent effect