Hepatitogenicity of Three Plaque Purified Variants of Hepatotropic Mouse Hepatitis Virus, MHV-2 in Athymic Nude Mice

Abstract

Hepatitogenicity of 3 plaque purified variants of hepatotropic mouse hepatitis virus, MHV-2 were examined in athymic BALB/c-nu/nu mice up to 9 weeks post infection (9WPI). All of the MHV-2S- and MHV-2M-infected mice died with severe acute hepatitis in 3WPI. On the other hand, MHV-2L-infected mice did not die until 9WPI and showed signs of slow-developing chronic hepatitis with persistent infection under low serum virus neutralizing antibody titers. This suggests that MHV-2L-infected athymic nude mice may be useful as a new model of chronic viral hepatitis.