Event Abstract Back to Event Behavioral and learning impairment due to Respiratory Syncytial Virus infection Janyra A. Espinoza1*, Karen Bohmwald1, Pablo F. Céspedes1, Roberto S. Gómez1, Sebastián Riquelme1, Claudia M. Cortes2, Javier Valenzuela3, Rodrigo Sandoval3, Floria Pancetti3, Susan Bueno1, 4, Claudia Riedel2 and Alexis M. Kalergis1, 4, 5 1 Millenium Institute on Immunology and Immunotherapy,Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Departamento de Genética Molecular y Microbiología,Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Chile 2 Millenium Institute on Immunology and Immunotherapy Universidad Andrés Bello, Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas y Facultad de Medicina, Chile 3 Universidad Católica del Norte, Departamento de Ciencias Biomédicas, Facultad de Medicina, Chile 4 INSERM U1064, France 5 Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Departamento de Inmunología Clínica y Reumatología, Facultad de Medicina, Chile Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the leading cause of respiratory tract illness in infants, young children, elderly and immunocompromised individuals worldwide. Besides the severe effects of RSV infection in the airways, recently neurologic alterations have been associated with RSV bronchiolitis. However, the nature of the encephalopathy associated with RSV is still unknown. We studied the effects of RSV infection in the Central nervous system (CNS) using murine models, our results show the presence of RSV proteins and RNA in hippocampus, ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus, and brainstem of infected mice. One month after challenge, rodents showed behavioral and cognitive impairment in marble burying (MB) and Morris water maze (MWM) tests. Our data indicate that the learning impairment caused by RSV is related with a deficient induction of long-term potentiation in the hippocampus of infected animals and changes in the expression of NMDA receptor. Our findings provide evidence that RSV can spread from the airways to the central nervous system and cause functional alterations to the brain, both of which can be prevented by proper immunization against RSV Acknowledgements This work was supported by funding from the Millennium Institute on Immunology and Immunotherapy from Chile (P09/016-F for AMK and SB), JAE, KB, RG and SR are Comisión Nacional de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica—Chile fellows Keywords: Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infections, Central Nervous System, Learning Disorders, Lung Diseases, Behavior Conference: IMMUNOCOLOMBIA2015 - 11th Congress of the Latin American Association of Immunology - 10o. Congreso de la Asociación Colombiana de Alergia, Asma e Inmunología, Medellin, Colombia, 13 Oct - 16 Oct, 2015. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Infectious and parasitic diseases Citation: Espinoza JA, Bohmwald K, Céspedes PF, Gómez RS, Riquelme S, Cortes CM, Valenzuela J, Sandoval R, Pancetti F, Bueno S, Riedel C and Kalergis AM (2015). Behavioral and learning impairment due to Respiratory Syncytial Virus infection. Front. Immunol. Conference Abstract: IMMUNOCOLOMBIA2015 - 11th Congress of the Latin American Association of Immunology - 10o. Congreso de la Asociación Colombiana de Alergia, Asma e Inmunología. doi: 10.3389/conf.fimmu.2015.05.00176 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 01 May 2015; Published Online: 14 Sep 2015. * Correspondence: Ms. Janyra A Espinoza, Millenium Institute on Immunology and Immunotherapy,Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Departamento de Genética Molecular y Microbiología,Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Santiago, Chile, janyra.espinoza@gmail.com Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Janyra A Espinoza Karen Bohmwald Pablo F Céspedes Roberto S Gómez Sebastián Riquelme Claudia M Cortes Javier Valenzuela Rodrigo Sandoval Floria Pancetti Susan Bueno Claudia Riedel Alexis M Kalergis Google Janyra A Espinoza Karen Bohmwald Pablo F Céspedes Roberto S Gómez Sebastián Riquelme Claudia M Cortes Javier Valenzuela Rodrigo Sandoval Floria Pancetti Susan Bueno Claudia Riedel Alexis M Kalergis Google Scholar Janyra A Espinoza Karen Bohmwald Pablo F Céspedes Roberto S Gómez Sebastián Riquelme Claudia M Cortes Javier Valenzuela Rodrigo Sandoval Floria Pancetti Susan Bueno Claudia Riedel Alexis M Kalergis PubMed Janyra A Espinoza Karen Bohmwald Pablo F Céspedes Roberto S Gómez Sebastián Riquelme Claudia M Cortes Javier Valenzuela Rodrigo Sandoval Floria Pancetti Susan Bueno Claudia Riedel Alexis M Kalergis Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. 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