Effects of Ovine Interferon-Tau Treatment on Theiler's Virus-Induced Demyelination in Female SJL/J Mice

摘要

Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus (TMEV) is a picornavirus that is used as an animal model for the study of multiple sclerosis (MS). One of the current therapies for MS involves the administration of a type I interferon, IFN-beta. The administration of IFN-beta can result in unfavored, psychological side-effects including clinical depression. A second type I interferon, ovine IFN-tau, has previously been found to be less cytotoxic than IFN-beta. This study focuses on the effects of IFN-tau on SJL/J mice at o months, 2 months, and 4 months post-infection with TMEV strain BeAn. Through neurological exams and histological analysis of the CNS, we report that IFN-tau administration significantly reversed the neurological abnormalities induced by TMEV infection when given at 4 months post-infection. Histologically, treatment at 4 months post- infection resulted in a significant decrease in lesion occurrence in the ventral and dorsal funiculi of the spinal cord. Inflammation and - demyelination were both reduced as measured via percent area effected in hemotoxylin + eosin stained and myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein- specific immunostained spinal cord sections embedded in paraffin. No effect was detected with treatment at 2 months post-infection.