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Zika virus can directly infect and damage the auditory and vestibular components of the embryonic chicken inner ear
Author(s) -
Thawani Ankita,
Sammudin Nabilah H.,
Reygaerts Hannah S.,
Wozniak Alexis N.,
Munnamalai Vidhya,
Kuhn Richard J.,
Fekete Donna M.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
developmental dynamics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.634
H-Index - 141
eISSN - 1097-0177
pISSN - 1058-8388
DOI - 10.1002/dvdy.176
Subject(s) - inner ear , biology , zika virus , cochlea , vestibular system , anatomy , embryonic stem cell , otic vesicle , hearing loss , virology , virus , neuroscience , in situ hybridization , audiology , medicine , genetics , gene expression , gene
Background Sensorineural hearing loss is an understudied consequence of congenital Zika syndrome, and balance disorders are essentially unreported to date. Also lacking is information about the susceptibility and the pathogenesis of the developing inner ear following Zika virus (ZIKV) exposure. To address this, ZIKV was delivered directly into the otic cup/otocyst of chicken embryos and infection of inner ear tissues was evaluated using immunohistochemistry. Results After injections on embryonic days 2 to 5, ZIKV infection was observed in 90% of the samples harvested 2 to 8 days later; however, the degree of infection was highly variable across individuals. ZIKV was detected in all regions of the inner ear, associated ganglia, and in the surrounding periotic mesenchyme. Detection of virus peaked earlier in the ganglion and vestibular compartments, and later in the cochlea. ZIKV infection increased cell death robustly in the auditory ganglion, and modestly in the auditory sensory organ. Macrophage accumulation was found to overlap with dense viral infection in some tissues. Additionally, dysmorphogenesis of the semicircular canals and ganglion was observed for a subset of injection conditions. Conclusions This article presents evidence of direct ZIKV infection of developing inner ear epithelium and shows previously unknown inner ear dysmorphogenesis phenotypes.