Renal lesions in rats infected with Rattus serotype hantavirus (SR-11 strain)

Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) virus, strain SR-11 (SR) was inoculated intraperitoneally into specific-pathogen-free (SPF) newborn rats, from which the kidney lesions were examined pathologically. The infected rats revealed proteinuria on and after 16 days postinoculation (PI). Histologically, the epithelial cells of the renal tubules showed mild vacuolar and granular degeneration with cytoplasmic inclusion bodies (CIB) on and after 16 days PI. Ultrastructurally, a decrease in number of mitochondria and endocytic vesicles was recognized in the epithelial cells of the proximal renal tubules. Occasionally, both the proximal and distal renal tubular cells had CIB near well-developed Golgi apparatus on and after 13 days PI. Immunohistochemically, CIB were positive for anti-SR nucleocapsid antibody, but negative for anti-SR envelope protein antibody. From the results obtained here, it was concluded that the proteinuria in rats infected with HFRS virus resulted from an insufficiency of reabsorption in the proximal renal tubules, and that CIB consisted of the viral nucleocapsid protein.