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Volume 105, Issue 3

Acute Rift Valley fever virus infection induces inflammatory cytokines and cell death in rat brain slice culture Open Access

Abstract

Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) is an emerging arboviral disease with pandemic potential. While infection is often self-limiting, a subset of individuals may develop late-onset encephalitis, accounting for up to 20 % of severe cases. Importantly, individuals displaying neurologic disease have up to a 53 % case fatality rate, yet the neuropathogenesis of RVFV infection remains understudied. In this study, we evaluated whether postnatal rat brain slice cultures (BSCs) could be used to evaluate RVFV infection in the central nervous system. BSCs mounted an inflammatory response after slicing, which resolved over time, and they were viable in culture for at least 12 days. Infection of rat BSCs with pathogenic RVFV strain ZH501 induced tissue damage and apoptosis over 48 h. Viral replication in BSCs reached up to 1×10 p.f.u. equivalents/ml, depending on inoculation dose. Confocal immunofluorescent microscopy of cleared slices confirmed direct infection of neurons as well as activation of microglia and astrocytes. Further, RVFV-infected rat BSCs produced antiviral cytokines and chemokines, including MCP-1 and GRO/KC. This study demonstrates that rat BSCs support replication of RVFV for studies of neuropathogenesis. This allows for continued and complementary investigation into RVFV infection in an postnatal brain slice culture format.

  • Received:
  • Accepted:
  • Published Online:
Keyword(s): brain slice culture , bunyavirus , ex vivo model , neurotropic virus , Rift Valley fever virus and viral encephalitis
Funding
This study was supported by the:
  • Division of Intramural Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (Award R01 AI178378)
    • Principle Award Recipient: AmyL Hartman
  • Division of Intramural Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (Award R56 AI171920)
    • Principle Award Recipient: AmyL Hartman
  • National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (Award R01 NS101100)
    • Principle Award Recipient: L HartmanAmy
© 2024 The Authors
  • This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. This article was made open access via a Publish and Read agreement between the Microbiology Society and the corresponding author’s institution.
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2024-03-28
2024-04-27
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Acute Rift Valley fever virus infection induces inflammatory cytokines and cell death in ex vivo rat brain slice culture
J. Gen. Virol. 105, 001970 (2024); https://doi.org/10.1099/jgv.0.001970
/content/journal/jgv/10.1099/jgv.0.001970
/content/journal/jgv/10.1099/jgv.0.001970
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