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Persistent West Nile Virus Associated With A Neurological Sequela In Hamsters Identified By Motor Unit Number Estimation, V Siddharthan, H Wang, N E. Motter, J O. Hall, R D. Skinner, R T. Skirpstunas, John D. Morrey
Persistent West Nile Virus Associated With A Neurological Sequela In Hamsters Identified By Motor Unit Number Estimation, V Siddharthan, H Wang, N E. Motter, J O. Hall, R D. Skinner, R T. Skirpstunas, John D. Morrey
John D. Morrey
To investigate the hypothesis that neurological sequelae are associated with persistent West Nile virus (WNV) and neuropathology, we developed an electrophysiological motor unit number estimation (MUNE) assay to measure the health of motor neurons temporally in hamsters. The MUNE assay was successful in identifying chronic neuropathology in the spinal cords of infected hamsters. MUNE was suppressed at days 9 to 92 in hamsters injected subcutaneously with WNV, thereby establishing that a long-term neurological sequela does occur in the hamster model. MUNE suppression at day 10 correlated with the loss of neuronal function as indicated by reduced choline acetyltransferase staining (R2 …