Skip to main content
Journal of Clinical Microbiology logoLink to Journal of Clinical Microbiology
. 1979 May;9(5):601–604. doi: 10.1128/jcm.9.5.601-604.1979

Immunological studies of subacute measles encephalitis in ferrets: similarities to human subacute sclerosing panencephalitis.

P D Mehta, H Thormar
PMCID: PMC275356  PMID: 39084

Abstract

Ferrets inoculated with subacute sclerosing panencephalitis virus strains D.R. and Biken developed a subacute encephalitis. Brain extracts, at neutral pH, from these ferrets showed high measles antibody titers, increased concentrations of immunoglobulin G (IgG), and higher IgG/albumin ratios than those of controls. Although the brain extracts of subacute encephalitic animals showed significant synthesis of measles-specific IgG (20 to 60% of the total IgG) within the central nervous system, the electrophoretic patterns of these extracts did not show oligoclonal bands in the gamma-globulin region. Brain residues from most ferrets with subacute encephalitis, when eluted at low pH, demonstrated the presence of bound measles-specific antibodies. Excluding the electrophoresis data, other results are identical to those seen in human subacute sclerosing panencephalitis, indicating that the subacute encephalitis in ferrets may serve as a model for human subacute sclerosing panencephalitis.

Full text

PDF
604

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Albrecht P., Burnstein T., Klutch M. J., Hicks H. T., Ennis F. A. Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis: experimental infection in primates. Science. 1977 Jan 7;195(4273):64–66. doi: 10.1126/science.831255. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Byington D. P., Johnson K. P. Experimental subacute sclerosing panencephalitis in the hamster: correlation of age with chronic inclusion-cell encephalitis. J Infect Dis. 1972 Jul;126(1):18–26. doi: 10.1093/infdis/126.1.18. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Coe J. E., Bell J. F. Antibody response to rabies virus in Syrian hamsters. Infect Immun. 1977 Jun;16(3):915–919. doi: 10.1128/iai.16.3.915-919.1977. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Forghani B., Schmidt N. J., Lennette E. H. Radioimmunoassay of measles virus antigen and antibody in SSPE brain tissue. Proc Soc Exp Biol Med. 1978 Feb;157(2):268–272. doi: 10.3181/00379727-157-40035. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Horta-Barbosa L., Hamilton R., Wittig B., Fuccillo D. A., Sever J. L., Vernon M. L. Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis: isolation of suppressed measles virus from lymph node biopsies. Science. 1971 Aug 27;173(3999):840–841. doi: 10.1126/science.173.3999.840. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Mehta P. D., Kane A., Thormar H. Further characterization of bound measles-specific IgG eluted from SSPE brains. Ann Neurol. 1978 Jun;3(6):552–555. doi: 10.1002/ana.410030618. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Mehta P. D., Kane A., Thormar H. Quantitation of measles virus-specific immunoglobulins in serum, CSF, and brain extract from patients with subactue sclerosing panencephalitis. J Immunol. 1977 Jun;118(6):2254–2261. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Mehta P. D., Kane A., Thormar H. Relationship between homogeneous IgG fractions and measles virus antibody activities in subacute sclerosing panencephalitis brain. J Immunol. 1976 Dec;117(6):2053–2060. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Thormar H., Arnesen K., Mehta P. D. Encephalitis in ferrets caused by a nonproductive strain of measles virus (D.R.) isolated from patient with subacute sclerosing panencephalitis. J Infect Dis. 1977 Aug;136(2):229–238. doi: 10.1093/infdis/136.2.229. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Thormar H., Jervis G. A., Karl S. C., Brown H. R. Passage in ferrets of encephalitogenic cell-associated measles virus isolated from brain of a patient with subacute sclerosing panencephalitis. J Infect Dis. 1973 Jun;127(6):678–685. doi: 10.1093/infdis/127.6.678. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Thormar H., Mehta P. D., Brown H. R. Comparison of wild-type and subacute sclerosing panencephalitis strains of measles virus. Neurovirulence in ferrets and biological properties in cell cultures. J Exp Med. 1978 Sep 1;148(3):674–691. doi: 10.1084/jem.148.3.674. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Vandvik B. Immunopathological aspects in the pathogenesis of subacute sclerosing panencephalitis, with special reference to the significance of the immune response in the central nervous system. Ann Clin Res. 1973 Oct;5(5):308–315. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Wear D. J., Rapp F. Latent measles virus infection of the hamster central nervous system. J Immunol. 1971 Dec;107(6):1593–1598. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Weil M. L., Leiva W. A., Heiner D. C., Tourtellotte W. W. Release of bound immunoglobulin from SSPE brain by acid elution. J Immunol. 1975 Dec;115(6):1603–1606. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Clinical Microbiology are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES