Further observations on coronavirus infection of primate CNS

Previously we demonstrated that intracerebral (IC) inoculation of a murine coronavirus, MHV-JHM, into two species of primates can result in acute encephalomyelitis (Murray et al. 1992a). Infectious virus isolated from acutely infected animals, designated JHM-OMp1, was inoculated IC into a second group of monkeys. In this report we describe observations on the acutely infected animals and those surviving the acute infection that were sacrificed at later times post-infection. Results from dual in situ hybridization/immunohis-tochemistry screening of tissues show that astrocytes are target cells in white matter lesions during acute infection. In animals sacrificed 150 days postinfection, areas of demyelinated gliotic lesions, prominent in the spinal cord, were seen throughout the neuraxis. No virus products were detected in these late-infection lesions.