REOVIRUS TYPE III ENCEPHALITIS—A VIROLOGIC AND ULTRASTRUCTURAL STUDY

Abstract

A virologic and ultrastructural study has been performed on suckling rats inoculated with reovirus type III (Dearing strain). Animals became sick 5–14 days post-inoculation. Within CNS lesions, the virus showed a predilection to replicate within nerve cells. Glia and ependyma were apparently not involved in viral replication. Phagocytosis of degenerated material was mainly carried out by invading hematogenous cells. Abnormal microtubules were occasionally seen within neurons and glial cells. The rare abnormal neurotubules encountered were coated with a granular material. Such coated microtubules were identical to those previously described both in vivo and in vitro. The abnormal glial microtubules lacked such a coating, possessed central rods, and were arranged in paracrystalline arrays with a hexagonal symmetry. These findings are compared with those from other conditions with which microtubular anomalies are associated.