REOVIRUS TYPE-I INFECTION OF SMALL INTESTINAL EPITHELIUM IN SUCKLING MICE AND ITS EFFECT ON M-CELLS

  • 1 February 1988
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 58  (2) , 226-235
Abstract
In 10-day-old mice, reovirus serotype I (reo I) selectively adheres to the apical surface of M cells and penetrates the intestinal epithelium via M cells overlying Peyer''s patches before causing disseminated infection. Recently, reo I enteritis has been described in adult mice. We wished to determine if reo I enteritis also occurs in suckling mice and, if so, to determine which major epithelial cell types become infected and where the virus enters epithelial cells other than M cells. Transmission electron microscopy revealed that after oral inoculation of 10-day-old mice, peak infection of M cells preceded that of absorptive and undifferentiated crypt cells. The percentage of M cells in the dome epithelial cell population was reduced more than 4-fold between 4 and 72 hours after reo I inoculation compared with saline-inoculated control mice. By 6 days after inoculation, reo I replication was no longer observed and there was a more than 2-fold increase in M cells overlying Peyer''s patches domes of reo I-inoculated mice compared with saline controls. By 13 days, control and infected mice had similar percentages of M cells. When incubated with isolated intestinal epithelial sheets, reo I adhered selectively to and was endocytosed via the basal plasma membrane of absorptive cells. Thus, reo I initially penetrates the intestinal epithelium via the apical surface of M cells which become infected. Virions subsequently enter absorptive and crypt cells via their basal surfaces. During the first 3 days of enteritis, the M cells population becomes markedly depleted which may affect the permeability of the mucosal to microorganisms and other antigens as well as influence the host immune response.

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