Kloover Jeroen S, van den Bogaard Anthony E, van Dam Joanne G, Grauls Gert E L M, Vink Cornelis, Bruggeman Cathrien A
Department of Medical Microbiology, Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht, University of Maastricht, PO Box 5800, 6202 AZ Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Virus Res. 2002 May 10;85(2):163-72. doi: 10.1016/s0168-1702(02)00045-x.
The salivary glands are the major sites of persistent replication of rat cytomegalovirus (RCMV). At several months post infection (pi), infectious RCMV is usually still produced in the salivary glands but not in any other organ or tissue of the rat. To investigate whether the persistence of RCMV in the salivary glands is crucial to the pathogenesis of viral infection, we monitored the progression of RCMV-induced disease in rats from which the salivary glands had been surgically removed (desalivated) as well as in sham-operated rats, both after a lethal and sublethal challenge with RCMV. Desalivation did not have a significant effect on either RCMV-induced morbidity or mortality. As expected, at 1 year pi, relatively high levels of infectious virus were detected in the salivary glands of sham-operated rats, whereas neither infectious virus nor RCMV DNA could be detected in liver, spleen and lungs of these animals. Infectious virus and viral DNA were also undetectable in organs from desalivated animals at 1 year pi. Surprisingly, a difference was found between desalivated and sham-operated rats in the titers of anti-RCMV IgG antibodies, which were significantly higher in sham-operated rats than in desalivated animals at 183, 295 and 365 days pi. This finding indicates that the persistence of RCMV in the salivary glands may contribute significantly to the anti-RCMV humoral immunity of infected rats.
唾液腺是大鼠巨细胞病毒（RCMV）持续复制的主要部位。在感染后几个月，传染性RCMV通常仍在唾液腺中产生，但在大鼠的任何其他器官或组织中都不产生。为了研究RCMV在唾液腺中的持续存在是否对病毒感染的发病机制至关重要，我们监测了经手术切除唾液腺（去唾液腺）的大鼠以及假手术大鼠在接受RCMV致死和亚致死攻击后RCMV诱导疾病的进展情况。去唾液腺对RCMV诱导的发病率或死亡率均无显著影响。正如预期的那样，在感染后1年，在假手术大鼠的唾液腺中检测到相对较高水平的传染性病毒，而在这些动物的肝脏、脾脏和肺中既未检测到传染性病毒也未检测到RCMV DNA。在感染后1年，去唾液腺动物的器官中也未检测到传染性病毒和病毒DNA。令人惊讶的是，在去唾液腺大鼠和假手术大鼠之间发现了抗RCMV IgG抗体滴度的差异，在感染后183、295和365天时，假手术大鼠的抗RCMV IgG抗体滴度显著高于去唾液腺动物。这一发现表明，RCMV在唾液腺中的持续存在可能对感染大鼠的抗RCMV体液免疫有显著贡献。
