Inflammatory response in the central nervous system of mice experimentally infected with Equid Herpesvirus type 1

• Grant number: 18/23619-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Start date: May 31, 2019
• End date: May 30, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Veterinary Medicine - Animal Pathology
• Principal Investigator: Paulo César Maiorka
• Grantee: Leonardo Pereira Mesquita
• Supervisor: Elizabeth W. Howerth
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia (FMVZ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Georgia, Athens (UGA), United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 16/09396-2 - Characterization of immune response in the central nervous system of mice infected with highly neurovirulent strains of Equid Herpesvirus type 1, BP.PD

Abstract

Equid herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) is an emerging pathogen that causes a neurological disease in horses, which is characterized by a myeloencephalitis with vasculitis and thrombosis. However, many cases of an acute and fatal meningoencephalitis with severe neuronal necrosis have been reported in other animal species. Mouse models of EHV-1 infection have been developed in attempt to elucidate the mechanisms of the disease pathogenesis. Our research group developed a mouse model of necrotizing meningoencephalitis induced by two highly neurovirulent EHV-1 strains (A4/72 e A9/92) when inoculated intranasally. Within the brain of EHV-1-infected mice, at 3 days post-inoculation, there was a severe neuronal necrosis with meningitis and perivascular cuffing of inflammatory cells. This inflammatory influx to the brain was associated with the upregulation of several chemokines, including CCL2, CCL5 and CXCL-10. Little is known about the role of inflammatory cells and chemokines during encephalitis induced by highly neurovirulent EHV-1 strains. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to determine the phenotype of inflammatory cells within the brain of EHV-1-infected mice and to evaluate the expression of the CCL2, CCL5 and CXCL-10 chemokines through immunohistochemistry. Apoptosis, which is a programmed cell death that occurs in cells infected with ±-herpesviruses, will also be accessed in the brain of EHV-1-infected mice. Additionally, electron microscopy will be performed to evaluated neuronal changes associated with viral infection. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

MESQUITA, LEONARDO P.; COSTA, RAFAEL C.; MESQUITA, LAIS L. R.; LARA, MARIA DO CARMO C. S. H.; VILLALOBOS, ELIANA M. C.; MORI, CLAUDIA M. C.; MORI, ENIO; HOWERTH, ELIZABETH W.; MAIORKA, PAULO C.. Pathogenesis of Equid Alphaherpesvirus 1 Infection in the Central Nervous System of Mice. VETERINARY PATHOLOGY, v. 58, n. 6, p. 1075-1085, NOV 2021. (18/23619-0, 16/24856-0, 16/09396-2)

MESQUITA, LEONARDO P.; COSTA, RAFAEL C.; MESQUITA, LAIS L. R.; LARA, MARIA DO CARMO C. S. H.; VILLALOBOS, ELIANA M. C.; MORI, CLAUDIA M. C.; MORI, ENIO; HOWERTH, ELIZABETH W.; MAIORKA, PAULO C.. Pathogenesis of Equid Alphaherpesvirus 1 Infection in the Central Nervous System of Mice. VETERINARY PATHOLOGY, JUN 2021. (18/23619-0, 16/09396-2, 16/24856-0)