engleski

MCMV infection in newborn mouse brain

Murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) infection of the developing central nervous system (CNS) represents a good model for investigation of brain disorders following human CMV infection in newborns. Our studies performed on newborn mice have identified several important parameters of CNS infection in newborn animals. Virus infection in the CNS was associated with the induction of innate and adaptive immune responses with histological evidence of focal encephalitis formed of recruited mononuclear cells to foci of virus infected cells. Defects of cerebellar development in infected animals were generalized and included impaired granular neuron proliferation and migration, altered expression of differentiation markers, and decreased activation of neurotrophin receptors required for normal cerebellar development (J. Exp. Med. 2008 Feb 18 ; 205(2)). These findings suggested that in developing CNS focal virus infection and induction of inflammatory responses in resident and infiltrating mononuclear cells resulted in delays in cerebellar morphogenesis. Activation of resident microglia and infiltrating brain macrophages appear to play a role in modulating virus replication shortly after infection but also appear to be responsible for the inflammation in brains of infected mice. Clearance of replicating virus from the CNS requires MCMV specific CD8+ T lymphocytes whose effector functions remain incompletely defined (J. Immunol. 2008 Aug 1 ; 181(3)).

MCMV infection; mouse brain

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