Mouse hepatitis virus type 4 infection of primary glial cultures from genetically susceptible and resistant mice

Abstract

Mouse hepatitis virus type 4 infection of primary glial cultures, which consisted principally of astrocytes (marked by glial fibrillary acidic protein) from encephalitis-susceptible BALB/c or F1 (BALB/c x SJL/J) hybrid mice and resistant SJL/J mice, was studied. Primary neuron cultures from BALB/c and F1 hybrid mice were previously shown to be permissive and were destroyed within 5 days by infection with mouse hepatitis virus type 4, whereas neurons from SJL/J mice were fully resistant. In contrast, in the present study a chronic infection was established and maintained for up to 18 days in glial cultures from all three mouse strains. Infected SJL/J mouse glial cultures produced 10to 50-fold less infectious virus and showed less cytopathic effect than did cultures from either infected BALB/c or F1 hybrid mice. Cytopathic effect was evident initially in cells from all three strains, and continued virus production occurred in the presence of limited additional cytopathic effect. These results were not due to the production of detectable levels of interferon. This study showed that SJL/J mouse primary glial cultures were permissive for mouse hepatitis virus type 4 infection whereas SJL/J primary neuron cultures were not, and that there was an early lytic phase of infection followed by chronic infection in all three strains.

In vivo and in vitro models of demyelinating disease of coronaviruses in primary explants of the rat CNS

“…The uniqueness of differential tropisms of CV in the rat CNS appears to be species specific, as indicated by comparison of results on rat and murine cells. In the latter, JHMV can replicate equally well in astrocytes, neurons (Knobler et al, 1981a, b;Dubois-Dalcq et al, 1982;Collins et al, 1983), and oligodendrocytes (unpublished results). The in vitro infectability of rat neurons remains to be demonstrated, although infection of these cells within the CNS has been documented (Nagashima et CAL, 1978;Sorensen et al, 1984).…”

The astrocyte is a target cell in mice persistently infected with mouse hepatitis virus, strain JHM

“…These observation are consistent with published reports showing that M HV-J H M has a tropism for astrocytes in dissociated mouse spinal cord cultures,"" 15 and that MHV-JHM may persist for long periods of time in primary cultures of mouse or Lewis rat astrocytes .' o, 15 The majority of MHV-JHM infected cells in the CNS were not further identified in this study . It remains important to identify what other types of CNS cells are infected in both symptomatic and asymptomatic mice, but our attempts to do so using cellspecific markers for neurons and oligodendrocytes 16-20 have been unsuccessful thus far .…”

In vivo and in vitro models of demyelinating diseases XV. Differentiation influences the regulation of coronavirus infection in primary explants of mouse CNS

“…It should be kept in mind that the infectability of oligodendrocytes by these agents cannot account entirely for the CNS diseases observed, since the ability of coronaviruses to replicate in neurons and other cell types has been abundantly documented (Nagashima et aL, 1978;Knobler et aL, 1981aKnobler et aL, , 1981bDubois-Dalcq et aL, 1982;Collins et aL, 1983;Sorensen et aL, 1984;Beushausen and Dales, 1985). Our recent investigations using cDNA probes have, in fact, shown by in situ hybridization that latent JHMV can be maintained for prolonged periods in the cytoplasm of neurons within specific areas of the rat brain, particularly in the hippocampus (Sorensen and Dales, 1985), suggesting that neurons may function as repositories of latent and persistent infections.…”

“…1981b; Dubois-Dalcq et al, 1982;Collins et In studying the factors involved in the al ., 1983). Concerning oligodendrocytes of development of demyelinating diseases it rodents, which have been implicated as the has been demonstrated that several strains in viva targets, those from the rat are inof murine coronaviruses including MHV-deed infectable in vitro by JHMV (Beus-A59 (Lavi et ak, 1984), MHV3 (Hirano et aL, hausen and Dales, 1985).…”