Differential expression of coxsackievirus and adenovirus receptor on alveolar epithelial cells between fetal and adult mice determines their different susceptibility to coxsackievirus B infection.

Coxsackievirus B (CVB) can cause aseptic meningitis, myocarditis and respiratory disease, especially in newborn infants. To compare the susceptibility to CVB infection of fetal and adult mice, we prepared primary alveolar epithelial cells (AECs) from lungs of BALB/c mice. In contrast to fetal mouse AECs, those of adults were less susceptible to CVB3 infection, as indicated by decreased cytopathic effects, and reduced levels of viral particles bound at the cell surface. In adult mouse AECs, amplification of the viral genome and virus capsid protein VP1 synthesis were concomitantly reduced. In addition, the cell-surface expression of coxsackievirus and adenovirus receptor (CAR), which plays a key role in the initiation of CVB and pulmonary infection, was downregulated in adult mouse AECs. These findings demonstrate that adult mouse AECs are less susceptible to CVB3 due to decreased CAR levels. Thus, these findings strongly indicate that the level of virus receptors on AECs is one of the crucial determinants for the age-dependence of CVB virulence in the mouse lung.

[Organ culture of the liver of sucklings born to mice infected with viruses during pregnancy]. / Organnaia kul'tura pecheni sosunkov, poluchennykh ot myshei, infitsirovannykh virusom vo vremia beremennosti.

The growth and proliferation of organ liver cultures from sucklings born to mice infected with Coxsackie A 13 virus during pregnancy have been studied. In liver explants of the experimental group of sucklings, a well defined zone of of growth, mostly of epithelial cells, was observed early, whereas the cell growth around liver explants of sucklings born to control female mice was either absent or very weak.