[Light and electron microscopic studies of the brain, heart and pancreas in mice infected with MengoM virus]

Infection of ABAF hybride mice with MengoM viruses prepared as a suspension of mouse brain tissue (0.1 ml 10 LD50) after a series of more than 90 animal passages produced a severe panencephalitis and pancreatitis 60 h after inoculation. Histological examinations of the brain, pancreas, and heart revealed damage to the central nervous system and the acinar cells of the pancreas, consisting of a degeneration of the specific cells and their organelles, with little involvement of the heart muscle cells detectable with the electron microscope. This was consistent with high virus titers in the tissues in the period immediately following infection. The acute damage of exocrine tissues was without evidence of diabetes-like changes in the islets of Langerhans.