Infection and fertilization of mice after artificial insemination with a mixture of sperm and murine cytomegalovirus.

Female mice were artificially inseminated with a solution of sperm and cytomegalovirus (experimental) or sperm alone (control). Maternal infection was usually induced when virus accompanied sperm at insemination. Fertilization occurred in the presence of virus, and embryogenesis appeared normal on gross examination, although a slight reduction in the number of embryos was observed in the experimental group. Tissue cultures were prepared after gestation for 14 days from individual and pooled embryos. In one of 28 instances, virus was recovered from blind-passaged, experimental, embryonic fibroblasts. All control cultures were negative. This model may prove useful in further study of the pathogenesis of intrauterine cytomegalovirus infection.