title: Establishment of a rabbit model for bovine herpesvirus type 5 neurological acute infection.
abstract: This study was conducted to evaluate the suitability of the rabbit as a model for bovine, herpesvirus 5 (BHV-5) acute infection. In a preliminary experiment, a total of 24 one-month old New Zealand white rabbits were inoculated with BHV-5 or bovine herpesvirus 1 (BHV-1) by the intraconjunctival, intracerebral or intranasal routes. BHV-5 or BHV-1 inoculated in the conjunctiva induced virus proliferation in the eye mucosae and the nasal cavity of rabbits without meningo-encephalitis. On the other hand, only BHV-5 infection by intranasal or intracerebral routes produced a fatal meningo-encephalitis. The intranasal route was used in a further experiment for the establishment of a rabbit model for BHV-5 infection. A total of 45 rabbits were inoculated intranasally with BHV-5 or BHV-1. The results showed that intranasal inoculation of BHV-5 strain N569 in rabbits was followed by the development of a lethal meningo-encephalitis for 66% of rabbits while all BHV-1 infected rabbits remained healthy throughout this experiment (28 days). Analysis between the mortalities of rabbits infected with BHV-5 and BHV-1 were highly significant (p < 0.001). The presence of BHV-5 in the central nervous system (CNS) was confirmed by virus isolation (essentially the cerebrum, midbrain and pons) and by immunohistochemical staining of BHV-5 antigen (essentially in the neurons of the cerebrum) only in BHV-5 infected rabbits showing clinical signs of meningo-encephalitis. The findings obtained confirmed the suitability of a rabbit model for the establishment of BHV-5 neurological acute infection and also as a valuable tool for the comparative study of BHV-5 and BHV-1 neuropathogenicity.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liège, Belgium. meyer@stat.fmv.ulg.ac.be
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lemaire
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lyaku
authors.forename: P P
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Pastoret
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Thiry
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000281:Administration, Intranasal; D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology*; D006564:Herpesviridae / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D006566:Herpesviridae Infections / Q000150:complications / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D007242:Herpesvirus 1, Bovine / Q000472:pathogenicity; D008590:Meningoencephalitis / Q000150:complications / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D011817:Rabbits