title: Comparison of procedures for the detection of enteroviruses in murine heart samples by in situ polymerase chain reaction.
abstract: A protocol for the in situ polymerase chain reaction (IS-PCR) detection of viral nucleic acid in the heart tissue of four-to-five-week-old CD1 mice infected with coxsackievirus B3 (CBV3) Nancy strain is described. To compare the effects of formalin concentration on the IS-PCR process, two different concentrations (10 and 37%) were employed. Using 37% formalin, 25 PCR cycles were sufficient and a permeabilization step could be omitted. However, postfixation of tissues with 4% paraformaldehyde and 100% ethanol after the deparaffinization, reverse transcriptase and amplification steps was required in order to minimize artefacts. When the tissues were fixed in 10% formalin, postfixation with 4% paraformaldehyde was not required, but a permeabilization step had to be employed and 40 cycles of PCR amplification were needed. To detect the PCR product in the 10% formalin-fixed samples, incubation with 0.3 U/ml of an anti-digoxigenin antibody conjugated to alkaline phosphatase was performed for 90 min. When 37% formalin-fixed samples were used, the concentration of the antibody conjugate had to be increased to 3 U/ml and the exposure time was decreased to 30 min. Enterovirus (EV) nucleic acid was detected in the cytoplasm of myocytes. Thus, IS-PCR was successful in localizing EV nucleic acid in the cytoplasm of myocytes in mice infected with a cardiotropic strain of CBV3. Using this technique, 10% formalin-fixed tissues gave better results than 37% formalin-fixed tissues.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Virologie, Hospices Civils de Lyon, Hôpital Edouard Herriot, France.
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Berger
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: See
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Redl
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aymard
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lina
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004770:Enterovirus / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006321:Heart / Q000821:virology*; D051379:Mice; D009205:Myocarditis / Q000821:virology*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*