engleski

Role of antibodies in modifying of MCMV infection in brain

Congenital cytomegalovirus infection (CMV) is leading cause of congenital abnormalities of the nervous system including retardation, hearing loss and blindness. We have established a model of murine CMV (MCMV) infection in newborn mice and we used this model in order to investigate the role of antiviral antibodies in modification of brain infection and to test if they can prevent delay in brain development caused by MCMV. Newborn BALB/c mice were intraperitoneally infected with MCMV and immune policlonal serum was inoculated on day 5 post infection (p.i.). The viral presence in the brain has been analysed by plaque assay ao murine embrional fibroblasts. Histological evaluation has been used to detect disturbance in brain development. Virus titer in the brain and in the liver was decreased indicating that polyclonal anti MCMV serum can limit viral spread. These results suggest that administration of polyclonal serum have protective role in brain tissue. We have evidence that brain development is postponed in infected brain but not in brain treated with polyclonal serum. No statistical significance was observed comparin brain volume and brain area in non infected mice and mice treated with immune serum. Therefore we conclude that polyclonal anti MCMV serum was able to diminish virus titer in the brain and prevent brain developmental impairment. Using anti-glycoprotein B(gB) and anti -glycoprotein H (gH)neutralising antibodies against MCMV we have observed that gB limits virus dissemination in brain parenchyma but gH antibodies hasn't been able to supress viral replication in brain. Our results suggests that administration of polyclonal anti MCMV serum can be used as a valuable therapeutic in congenital CMV infection.

antibodies; brain development; congenital infection; MCMV; newborn mice

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