Role of IL-4 in an experimental model of encephalitis induced by intracranial inoculation of herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1)

• Autor(a) principal: Vilela,Márcia Carvalho
• Data de Publicação: 2011
• Outros Autores: Campos,Roberta Dayrell de Lima, Mansur,Daniel Santos, Rodrigues,David Henrique, Queiroz,Norinne Lacerda, Lima,Graciela Kunrath, Rachid,Milene Alvarenga, Kroon,Erna Geessien, Campos,Marco Antônio, Teixeira,Antônio Lúcio
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Arquivos de neuro-psiquiatria (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0004-282X2011000200019
• topic: herpes simplex virus type 1; IL-4; neuroinflammation

Herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1) is a pathogen that may cause severe encephalitis in humans. In this study, we aimed to investigate the role of interleukin-4 (IL-4) in a model of HSV-1 brain infection. IL-4 knockout (IL-4-/-) and wild type (WT) C57BL/6 mice were inoculated with 10(4) plaque-forming units of HSV-1 by the intracranial route. Histopathologic analysis revealed a distinct profile of infiltrating cells at 3 days post-infection (dpi). Infected WT mice presented mononuclear inflammatory cells while IL-4-/- mice developed meningoencephalitis with predominance of neutrophils. IL-4-/- mice had diminished leukocyte adhesion at 3 dpi when compared to infected WT animals in intravital microscopy study. Conversely no differences were found in cerebral levels of CXCL1, CXCL9, CCL3, CCL5 and TNF-α between WT and IL-4-/- infected mice. IL-4 may play a role in the recruitment of cells into central nervous system in this acute model of severe encephalitis caused by HSV-1.