Phocine distemper virus effects on seal cervical lower motor neurons

Phocine Distemper Virus (PDV) has been responsible for more than 30,000 harbor seal ( Phoca vitulina ) deaths in the last two decades. Seals experience immunosuppression, respiratory/cardiovascular distress and central nervous system seizure. Histological examination of PDV seal neurons has shown multi‐focal demyelination in the cerebral hemispheres and brainstem, but here is no supporting information on its spinal cord effects. This study examines the cervical spinal cord of a seal infected with Morbillivirus (PDV variant). Comparisons with neurologically healthy seals reveal that there are no large scale changes to the white matter of the cervical spinal cord, but the lower motor neurons show early signs of cell death. Efforts to localize specific regions of PDV necrosis within the infected spinal cord may shed light on the neurological progression of the viral infection.