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Journal of Virology, August 2001, p. 7114-7121, Vol. 75, No. 15
W. Harry Feinstone Department of Molecular
Microbiology and Immunology, School of Hygiene and Public Health, Johns
Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21205
Received 8 January 2001/Accepted 24 April 2001
Virus infection of neurons leads to different outcomes ranging from
latent and noncytolytic infection to cell death. Viruses kill neurons
directly by inducing either apoptosis or necrosis or indirectly as a
result of the host immune response. Sindbis virus (SV) is an alphavirus
that induces apoptotic cell death both in vitro and in vivo. However,
apoptotic changes are not always evident in neurons induced to die by
alphavirus infection. Time lapse imaging revealed that SV-infected
primary cortical neurons exhibited both apoptotic and necrotic
morphological features and that uninfected neurons in the cultures also
died. Antagonists of the N-methyl-D-aspartate
(NMDA) subtype of glutamate receptors protected neurons from SV-induced
death without affecting virus replication or SV-induced apoptotic cell
death. These results provide evidence that SV infection activates
neurotoxic pathways that result in aberrant NMDA receptor stimulation
and damage to infected and uninfected neurons.
0022-538X/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JVI.75.15.7114-7121.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Sindbis Virus-Induced Neuronal Death Is both
Necrotic and Apoptotic and Is Ameliorated by
N-Methyl-D-Aspartate Receptor
Antagonists
and
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, School of Hygiene and Public
Health, Johns Hopkins University, 615 N. Wolfe St., Baltimore, MD
21205. Phone: (410) 955-3459. Fax: (410) 955-0105. E-mail:
dgriffin{at}jhsph.edu.
Present address: Center for the Study of Hepatitis C, The
Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10021.
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