Brain trauma enhances transient cytomegalovirus invasion of the brain only in mice that are immunodeficient.

ABSTRACT: Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is one of the most common viral pathogens leading to neurological dysfunction in individuals with depressed immune systems. How CMV enters the brain remains an open question. The hypothesis that brain injury may enhance the entrance of CMV into the brain was tested. Insertion of a sterile needle into the brain caused a dramatic increase in mouse CMV in the brains of immunodeficient SCID mice inoculated peripherally within an hour of injury and examined 1 week later; peripheral inoculation 48 h after injury and a 1-week survival resulted in only a modest infection at the site of injury. In contrast, uninjured SCID mice, as well as injured immunocompetent control mice, showed little sign of viral infection at the same time intervals. Direct inoculation of the brain resu

SUBMITTER: van den Pol AN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2612325 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature