645 MECHANISMS OF SPECIFIC INTERACTION BETWEEN MOUSE ENTEROCYTES AND ROTAVIRUS: IMPLICATIONS IN PATHOGENESIS OF VIRAL ENTERITIS IN HUMAN INFANTS

Abstract

The nature of virus-intestinal cellular interaction was examined in duodenal and jejunal enterocytes (EC) obtained from groups of adult and suckling mice inoculated orally with mouse rotavirus (MRV). The techniques of immunofluorescence (IF), electron microscopy (EM), and rosetting of MRV-coated sheep erythrocytes (SRBC) were employed for these studies. EM studies of small intestinal homogenates obtained 24 hours after infection revealed the presence of large amounts of MRV in suckling mice, but little or no virus was observed in the adult mice. IF studies demonstrated the presence of viral antigen in the cytoplasm in 15 to 40% of suckling EC and in 0 to 2% of adult EC. Isolated EC from uninfected adult or suckling mice were incubated with purified MRV-coated SRBC's. Specific binding of EC to virus coated SRBC's, as evidenced by formation of rosettes, was observed with 20% of suckling EC and only infrequently with adult EC. These data suggest that the degree of replication of MRV in the intestine may be determined by the availability of virus-specific receptors on EC. The differences in the relative proportion of such receptors between the suckling and adult EC may explain the unique predeliction of infants to rotavirus infection. Although the pathogenesis of MRV closely resembles human rotavirus infection, the identification of similar receptors on human enterocytes remains to be established.

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