HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (Papers in Press[PDF]) Supplementary Figures All Versions of this Article: vir.0.014282-0v1 90/12/2956    most recent Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via CrossRef Google Scholar Articles by Funk, C. J. Articles by Mason, R. J. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Funk, C. J. Articles by Mason, R. J. Agricola Articles by Funk, C. J. Articles by Mason, R. J.

Rat respiratory coronavirus infection: Replication in airway and alveolar epithelial cells and innate immune response

¹ National Jewish Health;
² University of Idaho;
³ University of Colorado Denver Health Sciences Center

⁴ E-mail: masonb{at}njhealth.org

The rat coronavirus sialodacryoadenitis virus (SDAV) causes respiratory infection and provides a system for investigating respiratory coronaviruses in a natural host. A viral suspension in the form of a microspray aerosol was delivered by intratracheal instillation into the distal lung of 6-8 week old Fischer 344 rats. SDAV inoculation produced a 7% body weight loss over a 5-day period that was followed by recovery over the next 7 days. SDAV caused focal lesions in the lung, which were most severe on day 4 after inoculation. Immunofluorescent staining showed that four cell types supported SDAV virus replication in the lower respiratory tract, namely Clara cells, ciliated cells in the bronchial airway and alveolar type I and type II cells in the lung parenchyma. In bronchial alveolar lavage fluid (BALF) a neutrophil influx increased the population of neutrophils to 45% compared to 6% of the cells in control samples on day 2 after mock inoculation (p.i.). Virus infection induced an increase in surfactant protein SP-D levels in BALF of infected rats on day 4 and 8 p.i. that subsided by day 12. The concentrations of chemokines MCP-1, LIX, and CINC-1 in BALF increased on day 4 after inoculation, but returned to control levels by day 8. Intratracheal instillation of rats with SDAV coronavirus caused an acute, self-limited infection that is a useful model for studying the early events of the innate immune response to respiratory coronavirus infections in lungs of the natural host of the virus.

Received 18 June 2009; accepted 2 September 2009.