title: Age-related changes in susceptibility of mice to low-virulent mouse hepatitis virus (MHV-2-CC) infection.
abstract: This study was performed to examine mouse age-dependent changes in susceptibility to MHV-2-CC-infection and participation of macrophages in such changes in BALB/c mice. One-week-old mice were fully susceptible (mortality, 100%), 2-week-old semi-susceptible (36%), and 3- and 4-week-old fully resistant (0%) to MHV-2-CC, respectively. Such age-dependent differences corresponded well with the differences in the virus titers in the liver, spleen and blood and in the severity of liver lesions. In 1-week-old mice with peritoneal exudate cells (PEC) transferred from 4-week-old mice and infected with MHV-2-CC, a slight prolongation of survival time was recorded, although there was no difference in mortality. In 3-week-old mice infected with MHV-2-CC after silica-treatment to suppress macrophages, there was no significant change in susceptibility. In macrophages infected with MHV-2-CC in vitro, the virus replicated better in macrophages obtained from younger mice. These results suggest that macrophages may play a small role in the age-related development of resistance to MHV-2-CC infection in BALB/c mice.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Pathology, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Kiatipattanasakul
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kajikawa
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tsutsui
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nakayama
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Goto
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Doi
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000276:immunology*; D000818:Animals; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D018352:Coronavirus Infections / Q000276:immunology*; D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D005260:Female; D006524:Hepatitis, Viral, Animal / Q000276:immunology*; D008099:Liver / Q000821:virology; D008262:Macrophage Activation / Q000276:immunology*; D008264:Macrophages / Q000276:immunology* / Q000821:virology; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D006517:Murine hepatitis virus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D013154:Spleen / Q000821:virology; D015996:Survival Rate