Prenatal Exposure to Respiratory Syncytial Virus Alters Postnatal Immunity and Airway Smooth Muscle Contractility during Early-Life Reinfections.

ABSTRACT: Maternal viral infections can have pathological effects on the developing fetus which last long after birth. Recently, maternal-fetal transmission of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) was shown to cause postnatal airway hyperreactivity (AHR) during primary early-life reinfection; however, the influence of prenatal exposure to RSV on offspring airway immunity and smooth muscle contractility during recurrent postnatal reinfections remains unknown. Therefore, we sought to determine whether maternal RSV infection impairs specific aspects of cell-mediated offspring immunity during early-life reinfections and the mechanisms leading to AHR. Red fluorescent protein-expressing recombinant RSV (rrRSV) was inoculated into pregnant rat dams at midterm, followed by primary and secondary postnatal rrRSV

SUBMITTER: Brown PM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5298216 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature