Structural Changes in the Brain of Mice Infected with Influenza A/H5N1 Virus

摘要

Structural changes in the brain of outbred mice were studied after infection with influenza A/ H5N1 strain isolated in the Novosibirsk region. High mortality was observed after intranasal infection. Examination of brain specimens revealed vasculopathies with thrombosis of the mi-crocirculatory vessels, pericellular and perivascular edema with multifocal ischemic necrosis, hyperplasia of glial cells, caspase-dependent apoptosis of neurons caused by the cytopathic effect of the virus, and hypercytokinemia.Numerous outbreaks of avian influenza A/H5N1 recorded over the recent decade in 58 countries of the world are historically unprecedented: evolutionally stable influenza viruses circulating in its natural host have acquired the capacity to overcome the barrier between different species and be directly transmitted from infected birds to humans causing a generalized infection with mortality over 60% [12], which is caused by effective replication of avian influenza virus in cells of many organs, primarily the lungs and CNS [4,8-10]. Pathogenic activity of various influenza A virus strains largely depends on their neurotropism.