Table 2.

Neuro-infection with MERS-CoV in animals

Article/author	Year of publication	Type of animal	Animal model	Route of virus administration	Duration of study	Organs of involvement	Neurological symptoms	Non-neurological symptoms	Suitable animal model	Supplementary explanation
Li et al.	2016a	Mice	Transgenic mice expressing human DPP4 (hDPP4)	Intranasal inoculation	14 days	Brain Heart Lung Kidney Spleen Intestine Liver Blood	Severe Brain infection led to death	Pneumonia	Yes	Brain disease was observed, with the greatest involvement noted in the thalamus, brain stem, caudate, putamen, cerebrum, cerebellum, olfactory bulb, hippocampus, and ependyma on day 6 after inoculation
Falzarano et al.	2014	Common marmosets	Wild type	Intratracheal, intranasal, oral and ocular routes	20 days	Brain Lung Lymph node	Lethargy led to death	Progressive severe pneumonia	Yes	Extensive lesions were evident in the lungs of all animals necropsied at different time points post inoculation. Some animals were also viremic
Zhao et al.	2014	Mice	Wild type	Intranasal transduction of Ad5-hDPP4	22 days	Brain Lung	Encephalitis	Severe Pneumonia	Yes	mice were sensitized to MERS-CoV infection by prior transduction with adenoviral vectors expressing the human host-cell receptor DPP4 These mice are useful for determining immune responses and for evaluation of an anti-MERS vaccine and an antiviral therapy
Agrawal et al.	2015	Mice	Transgenic mice expressing hCD26/DPP4	Intranasal route	4 days	Brain Lung GI Heart Liver Kidney Spleen	Severe braininflammation (encephalitis)	Pneumonia Relentless weight loss Death	Yes	In Tg+ mice hCD26 was primarily detected in both types of alveolar pneumocytes in lung and neuronal cells and endothelial cells in brain