On the role of different lymphocyte subpopulations in the course of coronavirus MHV IV (JHM)-induced encephalitis in Lewis rats.

Abstract

The neurotropic strain of the mouse hepatitis virus (MHV), MHV-IV or JHM virus, causes neurological disorders in rats and mice when given intracerebrally 1,2. Depending on the rat strain and the age of the infected animal different courses of disease have been observed. Up to 2 weeks post partum Lewis (LEW) rats develop an acute fatal encephalitis, whereas animals older than 3 weeks usually do not succumb to the infection 3 but suffer from a subacute paralytic disease accompanied by multiple neurological disorders. However, the majority of them recovers completely roughly 3 weeks past infection 4. Since rats are expected to he immunologically competent at the age of 3 weeks, it is conceivable that maturity of the immune system probably plays a major role in the clinical course of the infection. We have recently shown, that T- and B-lymphocytes infiltrate into the central nervous system of these rats 4 and that the humoral immune response most likely contributes significantly to convalescence 5.KeywordsHumoral Immune ResponseLymphocyte SubsetInfectious VirusMouse Hepatitis VirusImmunize Spleen CellThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.