Protection of mice against infection with mouse hepatitis virus type 3 by injection of silica

Injection of silica did not brake the resistance against MHV3 conferred to C57BL/6 mice by injection of C. parvum. However, silica itself had a marked protective effect against MHV3 infection that was maximal when injecting 1 mg 2 hrs before virus infection. The protective effect of silica was observed in a number of inbred mouse strains that differ in their relative resistance to MHV3 infection. No viral titers were observed in the spleen and liver of mice which had received MHV3 plus silica, whereas high titers were observed in the virus-infected controls. Injection of silica caused a marked decrease in the number of esterase-positive macrophages in the peritoneal wash-out population, that may be compatible with the possibility that the cause of the protection is the depletion of target cells for the viral infection. This latter effect, however, was short-lived and 24-48 hrs after injection of silica, high numbers of esterase-positive cells were again observed. This may explain why only little protection was observed when silica was administered 2 days before virus infection.