Detection of Borna disease virus genome in normal human brain tissue.
Borna disease virus (BDV), a neurotropic virus naturally infecting horses and sheep, has been suggested to be associated with human psychiatric disorders. Thus far no extensive studies have been done, providing the evidence of BDV genome in normal human brain tissue. We therefore examined four brain regions of 30 normal autopsy brains for BDV p24 genome. By highly sensitive nested reverse transcriptase (RT)-mediated PCR analysis, we found positive PCR products in two brains: one in frontal and temporal cortices and hippocampus and another in frontal cortex and olfactory bulb. Our results suggest that BDV can infect human brain tissue latently, without causing an apparent neuropsychiatric disorder.
Haga
S
S
Department of Ultrastructure and Histochemistry, Tokyo Institute of Psychiatry, Tokyo, Japan. shaga@prit.go.jp
Yoshimura
M
M
Motoi
Y
Y
Arima
K
K
Aizawa
T
T
Ikuta
K
K
Tashiro
M
M
Ikeda
K
K
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001890:Borna Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000821:virology; D001921:Brain / Q000821:virology*; D015342:DNA Probes; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D016679:Genome, Viral; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000821:virology; D009830:Olfactory Bulb / Q000821:virology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000821:virology
D015342:DNA Probes; D004279:DNA, Viral; D012333:RNA, Messenger