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A STUDY OF THE POSSIBLE BASIS OF AGE‐DEPENDENT RESISTANCE OF MICE TO POXVIRUS DISEASES
Author(s) -
Subrahmanyan TP
Publication year - 1968
Publication title -
australian journal of experimental biology and medical science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.999
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1440-1711
pISSN - 0004-945X
DOI - 10.1038/icb.1968.20
Subject(s) - cowpox virus , biology , virus , virology , inoculation , cowpox , pathogen , specific pathogen free , immunology , poxviridae , vaccinia , biochemistry , gene , recombinant dna
Summary The age‐dependent resistance of mice to cowpox virus has been studied. The young mice were more susceptible to the lethal effects of the virus inoculated by various routes, and adult levels of resistance were attained between 2 and 3 weeks of age. Subcutancously inoculated cowpox virus infected adult and young mice equally. Virus titrations and immunofluorescence studies showed that significant viraemia and infection of viscera occurred only in young mice. There was no particular target organ in young mice, and the degree of infection and the extent of histological damage seen in the liver were slight compared to that seen in fatal mousepox. Circulating free virus was found to infect the livers of young mice more easily. The adult mice had a superior neutralizing antibody response and this could have been an important factor in preventing the infection of internal organs. The evidence did not suggest that interferon or macrophages were important, factors in age‐dependent resistance to poxviruses. Death in young mice from viral infection did not appear to be due to any greater sensitivity to bacterial endotoxin. It was also found that young mice from a low pathogen colony were more resistant than mice of the same age from the regular colony.