Central nervous system distribution of the poxviral proteins after intranasal administration of proteins and titering of vaccinia virus in the brain after intracranial administration.

Poxviral proteins are known to interact with the immune system of the host. Some of them interact with the transcription factors of the host, whereas others interact with the components of the immune system. Vaccinia virus secretes a 28.8-kDa complement control protein (VCP), which is known to regulate the complement system. This protein helps the virus to evade the immune response of the host. Such viral proteins might also prove beneficial in the treatment and prevention of the progression of the disorders, where up-regulation of the complement system is evident. VCP has been shown experimentally to be effective in protecting tissues from inflammatory damage in the rodent models of Alzheimer's diseases (AD), spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, and rheumatoid arthritis. Not only VCP, but also other poxviral proteins could be used therapeutically to treat or prevent the progression of the brain disorders, where the immune system is inadequately controlled. However, being a protein that cannot traverse the brain barrier because of its size, delivery of such proteins to the central nervous system (CNS) could be a limiting factor in their usefulness as CNS therapeutics. In this chapter, we show methods for the intranasal route of administration of a protein and show ways to detect its distribution in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and to the different parts of the brain. These protocols can be extended to examine the distribution of viral antigens in the brain. A protocol is also included to quantitate vaccinia virus in different segments of the brain after intracranial administration of the virus.