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M L Cook

Publications and source records attributed to M L Cook.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Marek's disease as a model for the Landry--Guillain--Barré syndrome: latent viral infection in nonneuronal cells accompanied by specific immune responses to peripheral nerve and myelin.

In the chicken, Marek's disease virus (MDV) induces a demyelinating peripheral neuropathy that, early in the course of the disease, is histopathologically indistinguishable from that seen in the Landry--Guillain--Barré syndrome in man. A continuing role for a productive infection in the pathogenesis of this disease is unlikely, since neither MDV nor MDV antigens can be characteristically detected in nerves or spinal ganglia examined at necropsy. The authors investigated the possible role of a latent viral infection by explanting and maintaining in vitro the sciatic nerves and spinal ganglia from diseased birds. In these tissues, viral specific products were induced and detected by immunofluorescence and ultrastructural methods early after explanation in well-isolated Schwann cells, satellite cells, and lymphocytes. Later, virus was detected in fibroblasts, macrophages, and neoplastic lymphoblastoid cells. Neurons and myelinating Schwann cells, in contrast, did not replicate the agent. Specific cell-mediated and humoral immune responses to chicken peripheral nerve and peripheral nerve myelin were demonstrated early in the course of the disease. When considered relative to potential pathogenetic mechanisms, these results suggest that Marek's disease neuropathy is initiated by the establishment of a latent viral infection in neuronal supporting cells. A specific immune response to viral-induced antigens on these cells could, in turn, result in subsequent demyelination.

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Latency competence of thirteen HSV-1 temperature-sensitive mutants.

Thirteen temperature-sensitive (ts) mutants of HSV-1 were analysed for their capacity to establish latent infections in the brains of mice. Eleven of the mutants could be classified as latency-positive or -negative; two could not be assigned to either group. Leakiness of mutants in the brain and differences in particle/infectivity ratios were found not to play a role in the results. Ts+ revertants of selected latency-negative mutants regained the capacity to establish latent infections, indicating that it was the ts lesion in these agents which was involved in latency. Ultrastructural studies of neuroblastoma cells infected with various mutants and maintained at the restrictive temperature showed that no absolute correlations could be made between capacity to establish latent infection and synthesis of various morphologically identifiable virus products. Finally, from a comparison of latency characteristics with previously established polypeptide phenotypes of mutants it was concluded that one immediate early and one or more later virus functions are necessary for establishment and/or maintenance of the latent state.

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Pathogenesis of reactivated latent murine cytomegalovirus infection.

Sixteen weeks after inoculation, murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) can no longer be detected in the tissues of mice. However, a 2-week course of immunosuppression with antilymphocyte serum and cortisone acetate results in reactivation and dissemination of the latent virus in all animals. In this study of reactivation, MCMV was first detected in the liver, usually during the first week of immunosuppression, and virus replication was shown to be restricted to hepatocytes. Subsequently, a viremia occurred, with spread of infection to other organs. The highest titers of virus were reached in salivary glands in which replication occurred in serous acinar cells. In the lung, virus-specific abnormalities were difficult to detect because of superimposed bacterial and fungal infections. However, interstitial pneumonitis could be produced when cortisone acetate was deleted from the immunosuppressive regimen. Although the site of virus latency has not been defined, this model system will be useful for study of reactivation of latent cytomegalovirus infection.

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Effects on humans of bites of Australian non-bloodsucking reduviid bugs.

Occasional reports are received of painful bites inflicted on humans in Australia by predatory bugs of the family Reduviidae. A compilation is made here of such reports, which were obtained from published sources and from the files of the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, and is accompanied by available data on the circumstances of the attack and the symptoms produced in the victim. Particular attention is given to two recent cases of reactions to bites of species of Piestolestes, an otherwise obscure endemic genus. It is suggested that the nature of reported reactions to bites of non-bloodsucking Reduviidae raises the possibility that they are a response to the injection of a toxin, and note is made of a study of an Israeli non-bloodsucking reduviid which produces a venom suggested to be potentially harmful to humans.

Arthropod Venoms↗

Intraaxonal transport of Herpes simplex virus in the rat central nervous system.

Light and electron microscopic observation 3--4 days after microinjection of Herpes simplex virus (HSV) into the left neostriatum of rat demonstrated the following results. (1) Virus labeled nerve cells were found in the ipsilateral substantia nigra; a large number of infected neurons were in the zona compacta and some were in the zona reticulata. No virus infection was evident in the contralateral side. (2) Virus labeled neurons were found in the cortex, a greater number ipsilaterally than contralaterally, and in the dorsal raphé nuclei. Cortical microinjection of HSV led to infection of some cortical cells but no neostriatal cells. We conclude, therefore, that spread of the virus to the cortex, the substantia nigra and the dorsal raphé following neostriatal injection was by retrograde axonal transport. (3) The left neostriatum, where HSV was injected, showed a surprisingly small number of virus infected neurons. The infected neurons were mostly the large neurons; the majority of medium sized neurons were well preserved. There was massive degeneration of nerve terminals throughout the neuropil. Most of these degenerating nerve terminals are considered to be afferent fibers.

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Newcastle disease as a model for paramyxovirus-induced neurologic syndromes. II. Detailed characterization of the encephalitis.

All chickens infected by intranasal and conjunctival routes with a neurovirulent strain of Newcastle disease virus (NDV) developed pneumonitis by 4 days after infection. This was followed 6 to 12 days later by the appearance of severe encephalitis in a significant number of survivors. Histologically, the encephalitis was characterized by neuronal degeneration and perivascular inflammation. In addition, a proliferative vasculitis in the molecular layer of the cerebellum was noted after 30 days, and this persisted for at least 200 days. Although CNS signs were absent during the pneumonic stage, significant amounts of virus were present in the brains of all birds at this time, and viral antigens were easily demonstrable in neurons, glial cells, and endothelial cells. However, when the CNS disease became apparent, viral antigens could not be detected in brains and NDV could regularly be recovered only by application of cocultivation techniques. At this time, the agent was selectively present in birds exhibiting neurologic signs. No evidence for immunopathologic processes was obtained, although hemagglutination inhibiting antibody levels to NDV were elevated in birds with CNS disease. Studies of an avirulent strain of NDV that replicated in the CNS but produced no disease provided evidence that the histologic lesions and the neurologic disease were related to virus multiplication in the brain parenchyma. A mechanism of the pathogenesis of NDV encephalitis is proposed and the disease is discussed relative to other paramyxovirus-induced encephalitic syndromes.

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Latent herpetic infections following experimental viraemia.

The spectrum of tissues harbouring latent herpes simplex virus following intravenous inoculation of mice was defined by in vitro co-cultivation techniques. The virus could be detected in central and peripheral nervous systems (including adrenal medulla), but could not be found in any non-neural tissues. Spinal ganglia were the organs most commonly involved. The relationship of these findings to the natural history of herpetic infections is discussed.

Adrenal Glands↗

Reed Neurological Research Center, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California.

Various clinical, virological, immunological, and morphological aspects of velogenic Newcastle disease were defined in chickens inoculated by natural routes with the Missouri-(H) Len 1950 strain. The disease initially appeared as a severe pneumonitis from which most birds recovered. Several days later, many of these birds developed severe encephalitic signs, largely referable to inflammatory changes in the cerebellum. During the pneumonic stage, virus was easily isolated in relatively high titers from the brains of all chickens, and viral products were easily detected in Purkinje neurons. However, when the encephalitis developed, virus was isolated irregularly and in low titers from brains, and morphological evidence for the presence of viral products could not longer be obtained. The encephalitic disease is discussed in relation to encephalitic syndromes induced by other neurotrophic viruses.

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Axoplasmic transport in the toad Bufo marinus.

The rate and course of axoplasmic transport from the eighth dorsal root ganglion cell bodies into the sciatic nerve of the toad Bufo marinus were studied. Concentrated tritiated proline was hydraulically injected into a surgically exposed dorsal root ganglion of animals maintained at 19 +/- 0.5 degrees C. At postinjection intervals of 1, 6, and 10 h, the animals were sacrificed and the dorsal root, ganglion, and sciatic nerve were removed bilaterally. The dorsal roots and peripheral nerves were cut into 3 mm segments measured from the ganglion. In some experiments all tissues were prepared for liquid scintillation counting techniques. In others the ganglion and every fifth 3 mm nerve segment were fixed in Bouin's fixative for radioautography, and the remaining tissue segments were prepared for liquid scintillation counting methods. Scintillation counts (counts/min) of consecutive segments along the labeled nerve were plotted against distance (mm) for each animal. Examination of these profiles showed a peak of radioactivity in the injected ganglion for each animal that was followed distally by an abrupt drop in the adjacent segments of the nerve. Radioactivity remained relatively stable in subsequent segments forming a plateau and then dropped to baseline levels forming a wavefront in the distal portion of the peripheral nerves of the 6 and 10 h toads. Movement of this wavefront during the 6 to 10 h time interval provided evidence for an axoplasmic flow rate of about 120 mm/day. Radioautographs of the ganglion and representative segments along the sciatic nerve were examined with both bright- and dark-field microscopy. Accumulations of silver grains were observed overlying the injected ganglion cell bodies and labeled axons of the nerve. Values for the number of silver grains/unit area were obtained from dark-field radioautographs of the nerve segments through the use of a computer-microscope system. The relative amount of radioactivity present in the axons was thereby demonstrated. Radioautographic data confirmed the axoplasmic flow rate of about 120 mm/day determined by liquid scintillation counting methods for the bulk of radioactive materials transported at this fast rate. In addition, the evaluation of radioautographic data suggests that an even faster flow rate of 185-215 mm/day may exist for a small portion of the labeled materials transported in the axon.

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Reactivation of latent Herpes simplex virus after pneumococcal pneumonia in mice.

In attempts to reactivate latent herpes simplex virus, we instilled Diplococcus pneumoniae intratracheally into mice harboring latent infections in sacrosciatic spinal ganglia. All mice developed a severe pneumonia within 24 h and were given penicillin therapy. Representative mice that survived the penumonia were sacrificed at daily intervals, and appropriate tissues were examined for evidence of viral reactivation. Herpes simplex virus was reactivated in the ganglia and appeared to travel both proximally and distally in associated nerve trunks. Clinically apparent disease due to the virus was not detected in any mice.

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Evidence that neurons harbor latent herpes simplex virus.

The cell type(s) harboring latent herpes simplex virus in the spinal ganglia of mice was investigated. Taken together, results from immunofluorescence, electron microscopic, autoradiographic, and in situ nucleic acid hybridization methods suggest strongly that, in mice, latent virus is maintained in neurons.

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Latent herpes simplex virus in the central nervous system of rabbits and mice.

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) type 1 induces a long-standing latent infection in the central nervous system of mice and rabbits. The infection was extablished in the brain stems of rabbits after corneal inoculation of the virus, and in the spinal cords of mice after rear footpad infection. In these animals, infectious virus could not be recovered by direct isolation from tissues; it was detected only after the tissues were maintained as organ cultures in vitro.

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Pathogenesis of herpetic neuritis and ganglionitis in mice: evidence for intra-axonal transport of infection.

The pathogenesis of acute herpetic infection in the nervous system has been studied following rear footpad inoculation of mice. Viral assays performed on appropriate tissues at various time intervals indicated that the infection progressed sequentially from peripheral to the central nervous system, with infectious virus reaching the sacrosciatic spinal ganglia in 20 to 24 hr. The infection also progressed to ganglia in mice given high levels of anti-viral antibody. Immunofluorescent techniques demonstrated that both neurons and supporting cells produced virus-specific antigens. By electron microscopy, neurons were found to produce morphologically complete virions, but supporting cells replicated principally nucleocapsids. These results are discussed in the context of possible mechanisms by which herpes simplex virus might travel in nerve trunks. They are considered to offer strong support for centripetal transport in axons.

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