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Experimental measles encephalitis in Lewis rats: dissemination of infected neuronal cell subtypes

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Abstract

Acute measles may lead in rare instances to the chronic progressive central nervous system disease process subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE). SSPE results from a persistent measles virus (MV) infection with incomplete virus replication involving the entire human brain. The experimental encephalitis model in Lewis rats was used to define affected cell populations after infection with the neurotropic MV strain CAM/RB. Distribution patterns of MV were analysed by appropriate cell markers in the brain sections of infected animals employing multiple immunofluorescence labelling and confocal laser scanning microscopy. MV was detected in neurones but not in astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, microglia, and endothelial cells. GABAergic and glutamatergic neurons displayed MV antigen whereas cholinergic and catecholaminergic neurons appeared devoid of MV immunoreactivity. Mapping of the rat brain has revealed MV-infected neurones predominantly in motor, somatosensory, auditory, and visual cortices as well as in the basal ganglia and thalamic nuclei of infected rats. The results indicate that MV apparently disseminates via GABAergic and glutaminergic neurones and their processes. The tightly restricted viral distribution pattern is consistent with both inefficient immune clearance from infected neurones and with the observed disease symptoms.

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  1. Ulrike Jehmlich

    Present address: ZKI HIKE, University of Greifswald, Fleischmannstraße 42-44, 17489, Greifswald, Germany

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Virology, Leipzig University, Johannisallee 30, 04103, Leipzig, Germany

    Ulrike Jehmlich, Jennifer Ritzer & Uwe G. Liebert

  2. Department of Pathophysiology of Neuroglia, Paul Flechsig Institute for Brain Research, Leipzig University, Jahnallee 59, 04109, Leipzig, Germany

    Jens Grosche & Wolfgang Härtig

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  1. Ulrike Jehmlich
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  2. Jennifer Ritzer
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Correspondence to Uwe G. Liebert.

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Ulrike Jehmlich, Jennifer Ritzer, Wolfgang Härtig, and Uwe G. Liebert contributed equally.

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Jehmlich, U., Ritzer, J., Grosche, J. et al. Experimental measles encephalitis in Lewis rats: dissemination of infected neuronal cell subtypes. J. Neurovirol. 19, 461–470 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13365-013-0199-1

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