RESUMO
Objective To study the effect of of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection on the expressions of Hox genes.Methods Forty eight kunming mice were randomly divided into infection group (n=32) injected with HCMVAD169 and control group (n=16) injected with saline into their brain.After 7,15,30,and 60 days,the cerebral lesions were observed by pathological method.HCMV antigen was detected by immunohistochemical method and HCMV DNA was detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). On the basis of developing HCMV mouse model. reverse trancriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was applied to determine the expressions of Hox gene in the brains of infected mice.The expression of Hox genes were also analysed with Northern-blot by isotope labelled Hox genes oligonucleotide probes. Results A HCMV infection model was developed and extensive pathological damages in brain tissue of infected mice were observed.Meanwhile.the HCMV-LA and HCMV-DNA were also found in brain tissues of HCMV infected mice.The expression level of Hox genes in control and infected mouse brain were determined by RT-PCR and Northern-blot.RT-PCR and Northern-blot showed that mouse brain expressed Hox-A9,Hox-A10,Hox-A11,Hox-A12,and Hox-A13,but they did not express Hox-B13.After HCMV infection,murine brain was induced to express Hox-B13 gene(P＜0.01),and reached the peak at 30 d after infection.Comparing with the control group,the expression of Hox-A9 and Hox-A11 were down-regulated in infected group (P＜0.05);the expression of Hox-A10 and Hox-A13 were significantly higher in infected groups (P＜0.05).Conclusion The results suggest that HCMVAD169 is able to cause mouse CNS infection and induced the abnormal expressions of Hox genes. which provides more information for understanding the mechanism of congenital abnormal due to HCMV infection and a valuable method of clinical prevention and treatment of HCMV infection.