Neuro-invasion of Chandipura virus mediates pathogenesis in experimentally infected mice

Neuro-tropism is a major feature in many viral infections. Chandipura virus produces neurological symptoms in naturally infected young children and experimentally infected suckling mice. This study was undertaken to find out the neuro-invasive behaviour of Chandipura virus in suckling mice. The suckling mice were infected with the virus via footpad injection. Different tissues were collected at 24-h intervals up to 96-h post infection and processed for virus quantification and histological study. Further confirming the virus predilection to nerves tissues, the adult mice were inoculated with the virus via different routes. The suckling mice experimental results revealed a progressive replication of virus in spinal cord and brain. The progressive-virus replication was not observed in the other tissues like kidney, spleen, liver etc. Histo-pathological lesions noticed in the spinal cord and brain tissues suggested the extensive damages in these tissues. In adult mice experiment, the virus replication observed only in the brain of the mice infected via intra-cerebral route. From this study, we conclude that nervous tissues are predilection sites for Chandipura virus replication in suckling and adult mice. In suckling mice, virus might transmit through nervous tissues for dissemination. In contrast, the adult mice the nervous terminal might not pick up the virus through footpad infection. The pathogenesis in mice might be due to the virus replication mediated damage in the central nervous system.