No susceptibility of neonatal and adult rats against the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus.

No susceptibility of neonatal and adult rats against the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus.
Jpn J Infect Dis. 2016 Mar 18;
Authors: Iwata-Yoshikawa N, Fukushi S, Fukuma A, Suzuki T, Takeda M, Tashiro M, Hasegawa H, Nagata N
Abstract
The present study examined the susceptibility of rats to Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and determined whether this animal is a suitable model for MERS-CoV infection. Immunohistochemical analysis identified dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP4), a known receptor for MERS-CoV, on type I pneumocytes from infected rats. While adult rats developed antibodies against MERS-CoV spike protein after intranasal inoculation, there was no evidence of virus replication in the lungs of adult, young, or neonatal rats after intranasal inoculation with MERS-CoV. In addition, human DPP4-expressing rat kidney fibroblasts, but not rat DPP4-expressing cells, were susceptible to MERS-CoV. Taken together, the results suggest that the rat is not a useful animal model for studying MERS-CoV infection.
PMID: 27000459 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Source: Japanese Journal of Infectious Diseases - March 17, 2016 Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Iwata-Yoshikawa N, Fukushi S, Fukuma A, Suzuki T, Takeda M, Tashiro M, Hasegawa H, Nagata N Tags: Jpn J Infect Dis Source Type: research