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Journal of Virology, October 2002, p. 10393-10400, Vol. 76, No. 20
0022-538X/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JVI.76.20.10393-10400.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

BCL-2 and BAX Protect Adult Mice from Lethal Sindbis Virus Infection but Do Not Protect Spinal Cord Motor Neurons or Prevent Paralysis

Douglas A. Kerr,1,2 Thomas Larsen,2,{dagger} Susan H. Cook,2 Yih-Ru Fannjiang,3 Eunkyung Choi,1 Diane E. Griffin,2 J. Marie Hardwick,1,2,3 and David N. Irani1,2*

Department of Neurology,1 Department of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences, School of Medicine, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21287,3 Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Bloomberg School of Public Health, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 212052

Received 4 April 2002/ Accepted 8 July 2002

Cellular proteins that regulate apoptotic cell death can modulate the outcome of Sindbis virus (SV) encephalitis in mice. Both endogenous and overexpressed BCL-2 and BAX proteins protect newborn mice from fatal SV infection by blocking apoptosis in infected neurons. To determine the effects of these cellular factors on the course of infection in older animals, a more neurovirulent SV vector (dsNSV) was constructed from a viral strain that causes both prominent spinal cord infection with hind-limb paralysis and death in weanling mice. This vector has allowed assessment of the effects of BCL-2 and BAX on both mortality and paralysis in these hosts. Similar to newborn hosts, weanling mice infected with dsNSV encoding BCL-2 or BAX survived better than animals infected with control viruses. This finding indicates that BCL-2 and BAX both protect neurons that mediate host survival. Neither cellular factor, however, could suppress the development of hind-limb paralysis or prevent the degeneration of motor neurons in the lumbar spinal cord. Infection of BAX knockout mice with dsNSV demonstrated that endogenous BAX also enhances the survival of animals but has no effect on paralysis. These findings for the spinal cord are consistent with earlier data showing that dying lumbar motor neurons do not exhibit an apoptotic morphology. Thus, divergent cell death pathways are activated in different target populations of neurons during neurovirulent SV infection of weanling mice.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Bloomberg School of Public Health, The Johns Hopkins University, 615 N. Wolfe St., Baltimore, MD 21205-2179. Phone: (410) 955-3726. Fax: (410) 955-0105. E-mail: dirani{at}jhmi.edu.

{dagger} Present address: U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), Pathology Division, Ft. Detrick, MD 21702.

Journal of Virology, October 2002, p. 10393-10400, Vol. 76, No. 20
0022-538X/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JVI.76.20.10393-10400.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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