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Infectious RNA Isolated from the Spinal Cords of Mice Chronically Infected with Theiler's Murine Encephalomyelitis Virus

Department of Neurology, University of Utah School of Medicine, 30 North 1900 East, 3R330 SOM, Salt Lake City, Utah 84132-2305,¹ Department of Neuropharmacology, The Scripps Research Institute, 10550 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, California 92037²

Received 2 August 2006/ Accepted 21 September 2006

The DA strain of Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus (TMEV) persistently infects cells of the spinal cord during the chronic phase of infection. Although in situ hybridization and reverse transcription-PCR have demonstrated the presence of viral RNA in the spinal cord, it has not been determined whether this RNA is infectious and, if so, how many PFU equivalents of virus the RNA can yield. In this study, we demonstrated that TMEV RNA isolated from the spinal cords of chronically infected mice is infectious and that there is at least 30-fold more infectious RNA than infectious virus in the spinal cords of these mice.

Published ahead of print on 27 September 2006.