Histopathologic basis of the teratogenic effects of H-1 virus on hamster embryos

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Rat virus (RV), an extremely small DNA virus with a diameter of 15 mμ (Dalton, Kilham & Zeigel, 1963), has exhibited a marked ability to proliferate in placental and fetal tissues following intravenous inoculations of pregnant hamsters, the maternal health remaining unaffected. Effects on the fetus, however, have varied with the strains of RV employed. In initial experiments, a strain which had been carried in forty-two passages through suckling hamsters was without apparent effect on hamster fetuses, although present in high titers in both placental and fetal tissues (Ferm & Kilham, 1963). These results encouraged similar studies on other strains of RV, attempting to find some which would proliferate in a similar manner and also induce teratogenic effects. These studies resulted in the finding of the teratogenicity of the H-1 strain of RV (Ferm & Kilham, 1964a). The purpose of the present report is to describe the histopathologic changes, including the numerous intranuclear inclusions, which accompanied fetal infections with H-1 virus and the spectrum of congenital malformations directly induced by viral action. The histopathologic processes found in these embryonic tissues may help to explain the morphogenetic basis of certain congenital malformations.