Injury of fetal brain, lung and liver caused by maternal human cytomegalovirus infection before pregnancy in mice

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Objective To investigate the injury of the brain, lung and liver of the pups after maternal infection of human eytomegalovirus (HCMV) 3 days before pregnancy. Methods Thirty kunming mice aged 10-12 weeks were mated and divided into infection group and control group. The female mice in the infection group were given intraperitonealty 1×106 50% tissue culture infective dose of HCMV suspension 0. 5 ml 3 days before pregnancy, while those in the control group were given intraperitoncally supernatant of human fibroblasts. At 19 days of gestation, cesarean sections were performed. Pathology and HCMV DNA of the brain, lung and liver tissue of the fetus were tested through microscope and PCR. Kai-square test was used to compared the positive rates of HCMV DNA and viral isolation between these two groups. Results The positive rates of HCMV viral isolation and DNA in the fetal mice of infection group were as follow: brain (73.3% and 93.3%), liver (53.3% and 93.3%)and lung (60. 0% and 86.7%), while HCMV DNA and viral isolation was not detected in the control group (P<0.05). Under microscope, viromicrosome and tissue injury including necrosis, degeneration and bleeding were found in the tissues of brain, lung and liver in the infection group. Conclusions Maternal mice HCMV infection before pregnancy might vertically transmitted to the fetus and cause multi-organ injury. Key words: Cytomegalovirus infections; Disease transmission, vertical; Hepatomegaly; Pneumonia