Gene expression in the brains of different strains of laboratory mice upon intranasal infection with vaccine strain (TC83) of Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus. Mus musculus

Differing from other experimental models, intranasal infection with vaccine strain of Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus, VEEV, (TC83) caused high titer infection in the brain and 90–100% mortality in the C3H/HeN murine model. Intranasal infection with VEEV (TC83) caused persistent viral infection in the brains of mice without functional αβ T-cells (αβ-TCR -/-). While wild-type C57BL/6 mice clear infectious virus in the brain by 13 dpi, αβ-TCR -/- maintain infectious virus in the brain to 92 dpi. To better characterize the susceptibility to disease development in different strains of mice, we have analyzed the gene transcriptomes in the brains of infected mice. Overall design: Using Affymetrix microarray analysis of brain homogenates, we compared the transcriptional profiles of mock-infected to VEEV (TC83)-infected C3H/HeN mice and we contrasted the transcriptional responses of VEEV (TC83)-infected relative mock-infected αβ-TCR -/- and wild-type C57BL6/J mice at the peak of acute disease associated with uniform high viral load in the brain and significant clinical symptoms, six days post-infection.