抗インフルエンザ薬スクリーニングのためのエアロゾル吸入感染装置の応用

抄録

We have developed a new inhalation and infection apparatus for screening of antiviral agents against influenza viruses. By use of this apparatus, mice can be infected with the aerosolized influenza virus more quantitatively than by an ordinary nasal-drop infection. When mice were inhalated with the aerosolized influenza virus (A/PR/8/34H₀N₁), changes of body weight, lung consolidation, and mortality markedly depended on viral doses in the infected mice, as compared with nasaldrop infection that allows fluctuations in these indicators and requires a great deal of skill. Furthermore, an occurrence of nonspecific inflammation in the lung of nasally drop-infected mice was greatly reduced by use of the new apparatus. When anti-viral activities of known anti-influenza agents (amantadine and ribavirin) and unknown herb extract (TJN-800) were tested in mice infected with the aerosolized influenza virus, these compounds showed a protecting activity against influenza virus. As a result, aerosolized infection of influenza virus to mice by using our apparatus is superior in the reproducibility and quantitativeness of the experiments to nasal-drop method.