Intrauterine transmission of Sendai virus in inbred mouse strains

Abstract

A study of Sendai virus infection in adult mice (2 to 3 months of age) showed that the inbred strains were more susceptible to infection than randomly bred Swiss white mice and that virus could be isolated from inbred strains for as long as 21 days postinfection. For this reason, these mouse strains (C57BI/6J [black] and C57Br [brown]) were selected for the study of intrauterine transmission of virus. The major effect of infection was a decreased weight of both embryos at 16 days of gestation and newborn mice. Virus was isolated from 17 to 20% of the embryos and at least 20 to 30% of the newborns from intravenously infected mothers. Fluorescent-antibody studies showed that the virus was widely distributed in the tissues of both embryos and newborns, including the central nervous system.

Germfree status of mice obtained by embryo transfer in an isolator environment

“…It is well known that viruses, bacteria and protozoa may pass from the mother to the fetus, especially at the end of the pregnancy, and hence it is conceivable that contamination could also occur during the surgical procedures or during handling of the embryo. Though the results from different groups may differ, several pathogens have been shown to be transferred after using Caesarean section, including MHV (Katami et al 1978), Sendai virus (Tucker & Stewart 1976), ectromelia virus (Schwanzer et al 1975), polyomavirus (McCance & Mims 1977, LCM virus (Mims 1969), MVM (Kilham & Margolis 1971), Bacillus piliformis (Fries 1978) and most likely also Mycoplasma pulmonis (Hill & Stalley 1991).…”