Synthetic Vpr Delivery in Mice

Synthetic Vpr (sVpr) was produced by solid‐state peptide synthesis, purified, characterized by sequencing and mass spectrometry, and compared to viral Vpr by SDS‐PAGE and immunoblotting (Henklein et al., 2000 (link)). Continuous delivery of sVpr or vehicle (sterile water) was achieved using Alzet pumps (Durect, Cupertino, CA). These were implanted subcutaneously in wild‐type FVBN mice with a delivery rate of 0.25 μl/h to administer 5 μg of sVpr/24 h for 14 days (Agarwal et al., 2013 (link); Agarwal et al., 2017 (link); Agarwal et al., 2021 (link); Balasubramanyam et al., 2007 (link)).