Oxygen tension and the selective tropism of K-virus for mouse pulmonary endothelium.

This study focused on the unique nature of K-virus pneumonitis in suckling mice. This process, rather than being a conventional pneumonitis, is characterized by viral replication and cytopathic effects restricted exclusively to pulmonary endothelium. The selective viral attack on this air-blood interface suggests that K-virus is an endotheliotrope that requires a richly oxygenated intracellular milieu for replication. This possibility has been explored by studies of the course of K-virus infection in suckling mice under conditions of normal (21 per cent), increased (40 per cent), and decreased (10 per cent) 02 content of inspired air. The absence of critical modulating influences of these varied environmental conditions rules out a significant role of tissue 02 concentrations as determinants of the selective tropism of K-virus.