Age-Dependent Rotavirus-Enterocyte Interactions

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Abstract
The nature of rotavirus-intestinal cellular interaction was examined in duodenal and jejunal enterocytes obtained from groups of adult and suckling mice orally inoculated with murine rotavirus (MRV). The techniques of immunofluorescence (IFA), electron microscopy (EM), and resetting of MRV-coated sheep erythrocytes (SRBC) were employed for these studies. Immunofluorescence studies demonstrated the presence of viral antigen in the cytoplasm in 2 to 30% of enterocytes isolated from suckling mice but not in any of the enterocytes from adult mice. The peak age of mice with MRV-positive enterocytes was 6-11 days. In all instances enterocytes were isolated 24 hr following oral inoculation of mice with control media or MRV. Isolated dispersed enterocytes from uninfected adult or suckling mice were incubated with purified MRV-coated red blood cells. Specific binding of virus coated SRBC to enterocytes, as evidenced by formation of rosettes, was most pronounced in enterocytes obtained from suckling mice under 11 days of age while only low levels of rotavirus binding activity persisted in the enterocytes from mice older than 75 days of age. These data suggest that the degree of replication of MRV in the intestine may be determined by the availability of virus-specific receptors on enterocytes. The differences in the relative proportion of such receptors between suckling and adult mice may explain the unique predilection of infants to rotavirus infection. Although the pathogenesis of mouse rotavirus closely resembles human rotavirus infection, the identification of similar receptors on human enterocytes remains to be established.