1. Assessing Zika virus replication and the development of Zika-specific antibodies after a mid-gestation viral challenge in guinea pigs
- Author
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Dira S. Putri, Nelmary Hernandez-Alvarado, Bradley C. Janus, Craig J. Bierle, Claudia Fernández-Alarcón, Jason C. Zabeli, and Mark R. Schleiss
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,RNA viruses ,Microcephaly ,Viral Diseases ,Physiology ,Cell Lines ,lcsh:Medicine ,Monkeys ,Antibodies, Viral ,Virus Replication ,Pathology and Laboratory Medicine ,Zika virus ,Pregnancy ,Medicine and Health Sciences ,Pregnancy Complications, Infectious ,Enzyme-Linked Immunoassays ,lcsh:Science ,Maternal-Fetal Exchange ,Mammals ,Multidisciplinary ,biology ,Zika Virus Infection ,Eukaryota ,Animal Models ,3. Good health ,Body Fluids ,Infectious Diseases ,Blood ,Experimental Organism Systems ,Medical Microbiology ,Viral Pathogens ,Viruses ,Vertebrates ,Female ,Biological Cultures ,Pathogens ,Anatomy ,Macaque ,Research Article ,Primates ,030106 microbiology ,Guinea Pigs ,Congenital cytomegalovirus infection ,Viremia ,Mouse Models ,Research and Analysis Methods ,Microbiology ,Rodents ,Blood Plasma ,03 medical and health sciences ,Model Organisms ,Old World monkeys ,medicine ,Animals ,Immunoassays ,Microbial Pathogens ,Vero Cells ,Fetus ,Biology and life sciences ,Flaviviruses ,business.industry ,lcsh:R ,Organisms ,Transplacental ,Zika Virus ,medicine.disease ,biology.organism_classification ,Virology ,Disease Models, Animal ,030104 developmental biology ,Viral replication ,Amniotes ,Immunologic Techniques ,lcsh:Q ,business - Abstract
Primary Zika virus (ZIKV) infections that occur during pregnancy can cause spontaneous abortion and profoundly disrupt fetal development. While the full range of developmental abnormalities associated with congenital Zika syndrome is not yet known, severe cases of the syndrome can present with microcephaly, extensive neurologic and ocular damage, and pronounced joint malformations. Animal models that accurately recapitulate congenital Zika syndrome are urgently needed for vaccine development and for the study of ZIKV pathogenesis. As guinea pigs have successfully been used to model transplacental infections by cytomegalovirus, syphilis, and Listeria monocytogenes, we sought to test whether ZIKV could productively infect guinea pigs and whether viral transmission with attendant fetal pathology would occur after a mid-gestation viral challenge. We found that guinea pig cells supported ZIKV replication in vitro. Experimental infection of non-pregnant animals did not result in overt disease but low-level, detectable viremia was observed. When pregnant guinea pigs were challenged with ZIKV at between 18 and 21 days gestational age, ZIKV was not detected in maternal or pup blood, plasma, or tissues and no significant differences in maternal weight gain or pup size were observed following challenge. Nonetheless, a robust antibody response against ZIKV was detected in both the pups and dams. These results suggest that, while guinea pigs can model aspects of the immune response to ZIKV infection during pregnancy, naturally circulating ZIKV strains are not pathogenic during the pregnancy of immunocompetent guinea pigs and do not interfere with normal pup development.
- Published
- 2017