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. 2002 Nov 12;20(1):45–58. doi: 10.1016/0168-1702(91)90060-9

Neurovirulence of six different murine coronavirus JHMV variants for rats

Matsubara Yutaka 1,∗, Watanabe Rihito 1, Taguchi Fumihiro 1,∗
PMCID: PMC7133860  PMID: 1656623

Abstract

Six variant viruses of the JHMV strain of murine coronavirus with large (cl-2, CNSV, DL and DS) or small (sp-4 and JHM-X) S proteins were compared in terms of their relative neurovirulence in weanling Lewis rats. Inoculation of various doses of the variants revealed that the cl-2 and CNSV were highly virulent and DL and DS were low-virulent, while sp-4 and JHM-X were avirulent. Pathological examination of rats infected with variants cl-2, DL and sp-4 showed that the cl-2 and DL induced severe and mild acute encephalomyelitis, respectively, while no lesions were observed in the central nervous system of rats infected with sp-4. Virus growth and distribution of antigen in rat brains correlated strongly with neurovirulence. These results suggest that S protein plays a role in neurovirulence in rats. In addition, these variant viruses were shown to be useful tools for further analysis of JHMV neurovirulence in animals as well as in cultured cells.

Keywords: Murine coronavirus JHM, Neurovirulence, S protein

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