Limbic encephalitis after inhalation of a murine coronavirus
Lavi, E.; Fishman, P.S.; Highkin, M.K.; Weiss, S.R.
Laboratory Investigation; A Journal of Technical Methods and Pathology 58(1): 31-36
1988
ISSN/ISBN: 0023-6837 PMID: 2826881 Document Number: 320517
The spread of a neurotropic coronavirus, mouse hepatitis virus strain A59, in the mouse central nervous system was studied after intranasal inoculation. Mouse hepatitis virus strain A59 spread during the 3- to 5-day postinoculation period, through the olfactory pathway into the limbic system. Coronavirus particles were detected in the limbic system by electron microscopy. The combination of temporal propagation through an anatomical-physiological central nervous system pathway and anatomical restriction of viral infection sugggests that specific interneuronal transport is important in spread of the virus. This experimental system may represent a model for diseases associated with human coronaviruses (common cold viruses) and/or the human limbic system.