CHRNA7 and infection: To explore the protective effect of α7nAChR inhibitors MLA and MEM on E44 infection of HBMEC, in vitro, we applied the 2-[2-methoxy-4-nitrophenyl]-3-[4-nitrophenyl]-5-[2,4-disulfophenyl]-2H-tetrazolium (WST-8) assay, which is widely used to determine cell viability in the field of cell biology [25].