Relationship between apoptosis and thymocyte depletion in rabies-infected mice.
The apoptosis of thymocytes from rabies-infected mice was investigated in a kinetic study covering the entire course of the infection. For this study, BALB/c mice (6-7-week old females) were inoculated intracerebrally with 100 LD50 of Challenge Virus Strain, a fixed rabies virus strain, and three animals were sacrificed per time point to remove thymuses. When thymocytes were fixed, stained with propidium iodide and analyzed by flow cytometry, a distinct subpopulation of cells was observed below the G0/G1 region, denoted as the A0 region. Cells in this region presented reduced fluorescence, and nuclear DNA fragmentation. The accumulation of cells in the A0 region, after infection, progressively increased, reaching 12% for unfractionated thymocytes, 62% for thymocytes from the 60% Percoll interface and 32% for thymocytes recovered at the 100% Percoll interface. This finding, observed only in thymocytes from infected mice, demonstrates a clear modification of chromatin condensation in these cells, suggesting the occurrence of an apoptotic process during rabies infection.
Marcovistz
R
R
Departamento de Imunologia, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil.
Bertho
A L
AL
Matos
D C
DC
D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D008212:Lymphocyte Depletion; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C / Q000276:immunology*; D011419:Propidium / Q000494:pharmacology; D011818:Rabies / Q000276:immunology*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology*; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000276:immunology*; D013997:Time Factors
D011419:Propidium