【Animal Modeling】-How to establish a mouse influenza virus infection model?

  OBJECTIVE: To explore the differences between two different respiratory tract infections in establishing mouse influenza virus infection models, and to provide references for the selection of suitable animal infection models for influenza virus etiology research and vaccine and drug development.

  Method: Select A/PuertoRico/8/34 (H1N1) virus strain, and infect C57BL/6 mice with nasal drops and aerosol respectively. The mice were weighed every day, and the clinical symptoms of the mice were observed with naked eyes. The mice were sacrificed on the 3rd, 7th, and 14th days after infection, and the lungs were weighed for virus detection, pathological observation, and lung cytokine determination.

  Results: Both infection methods can establish influenza virus mouse models, and the overall trend of disease progression is basically the same, but there are certain differences in the infection characteristics of the two groups of mouse influenza models. The weight loss of the aerosol infection group occurred earlier than that of the nasal cavity infection group. The lung index and viral load increased significantly on the 3rd day after infection (Pu003c0.05), and the degree of disease and degree of cytokine increased significantly; after infection The levels of II-1α and IL-6 cytokines in the lungs increased significantly on the 3rd and 7th days (Pu003c0.05), and TNF-α increased significantly on the 7th day after infection. Eyes after infection (Pu003c0.05).

  Conclusion: Both infection methods can establish mouse influenza models. The model established by aerosol infection method can cause obvious inflammatory infiltration and cytokine expression in the lungs in the early stage of infection. This is an ideal animal model of influenza virus infection.