Pathogenesis of experimental encephalomyocarditis: a histopathological, immunohistochemical and virological study in...

Rats (n=40) aged 8 weeks were infected, either by oronasal inoculation or by contact, with one of two different myocardial strains of encephalomyocarditis virus (EMCV), namely, the Greek strain 424/90 and the Belgian strain B279/95. The animals were killed at 11-62 days post-infection (dpi) and samples of brain, heart, pancreas, kidney, Peyer's patches, spleen, lung and thymus were processed for virological, histopathological and immunohistochemical evaluation. This experimental infection was inapparent, but virus was isolated from faeces and several organs of all animals. The main histopathological changes were focal interstitial pancreatitis, degeneration and necrosis of pancreatic acinar cells, depletion of thymus and Peyer's patches, and interstitial pneumonia. EMCV antigen was detected in the cytoplasm of cardiac muscle cells, pancreatic acinar cells and hepatic epithelial cells, and in macrophages of the spleen, lung and thymus. In the heart (the target organ of EMCV in pigs), the presence of EMCV in cardiac muscle cells without lesions lends support to the hypothesis that the rat is a natural reservoir host species of EMCV. The persistence of virus in the macrophages of the thymus may represent a mechanism of perpetuation and reactivation, under immunosuppressive conditions, of the infection.