Porcine Hemagglutinating Encephalomyelitis Virus Infection In Vivo and Ex Vivo
Date
2021-06
Authors
Mora-Díaz, Juan Carlos
Piñeyro, Pablo
Rauh, Rolf
Nelson, William
Sankoh, Zianab
Gregg, Edward
Carrillo-Ávila, José Antonio
Shen, Huigang
Zimmerman, Jeffrey J.
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American Society for Microbiology
Abstract
Porcine hemagglutinating encephalomyelitis virus (PHEV) is a betacoronavirus that causes vomiting and wasting disease and/or encephalomyelitis in suckling pigs. This study characterized PHEV infection, pathogenesis, and immune response in cesarean-derived, colostrum-deprived (CDCD) neonatal pigs. Infected animals developed mild respiratory, enteric, and neurological clinical signs between 2 to 13 days postoronasal inoculation (dpi). PHEV did not produce viremia, but virus shedding was detected in nasal secretions (1 to 10 dpi) and feces (2 to 7 dpi) by reverse transcriptase quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR). Viral RNA was detected in all tissues except liver, but the detection rate and RT-qPCR threshold cycle (CT) values decreased over time. The highest concentration of virus was detected in inoculated piglets necropsied at 5 dpi in turbinate and trachea, followed by tonsils, lungs, tracheobronchial lymph nodes, and stomach. The most representative microscopic lesions were gastritis lymphoplasmacytic, moderate, multifocal, with perivasculitis, and neuritis with ganglia degeneration. A moderate inflammatory response, characterized by increased levels of interferon alpha (IFN-α) in plasma (5 dpi) and infiltration of T lymphocytes and macrophages were also observed. Increased plasma levels of interleukin-8 (IL-8) were detected at 10 and 15 dpi, coinciding with the progressive resolution of the infection. Moreover, a robust antibody response was detected by 10 dpi. An ex vivo air-liquid CDCD-derived porcine respiratory cells culture (ALI-PRECs) system showed virus replication in ALI-PRECs and cytopathic changes and disruption of ciliated columnar epithelia, thereby confirming the tracheal epithelia as a primary site of infection for PHEV.
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This article is published as Mora-Díaz, Juan Carlos, Pablo E. Piñeyro, Rolf Rauh, William Nelson, Zianab Sankoh, Edward Gregg, José Antonio Carrillo-Ávila et al. "Porcine hemagglutinating encephalomyelitis virus infection in vivo and ex vivo." Journal of virology 95, no. 12 (2021): e02335-20.
DOI: 10.1128/JVI.02335-20
Copyright 2021 Mora-Díaz et al.
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
Posted with permission.