%0 Journal Article
%T Efficient replication of pneumonia virus of mice (PVM) in a mouse macrophage cell line
%A Kimberly D Dyer
%A Ingrid MM Schellens
%A Cynthia A Bonville
%A Brittany V Martin
%A Joseph B Domachowske
%A Helene F Rosenberg
%J Virology Journal
%D 2007
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1743-422x-4-48
%X Pneumonia virus of mice (PVM) infection in mice was originally described by Horsfall and colleagues [1,2], but until relatively recently, the sole interest in this virus was as a pathogen of laboratory rodent colonies [3-5]. Over the past several years, we and others have built on Horsfall's early studies, and have developed and characterized an in vivo model of severe respiratory virus infection using PVM [reviewed in [6,7]]. Among our findings, we have shown that a minimal, physiologically relevant inoculum of PVM (typically <100 pfu) results in robust virus replication in lung tissue, accompanied by influx of granulocytes in response to local production of specific proinflammatory chemokines [8]. The pathophysiology of PVM bronchiolitis leading to pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is similar to that observed in response to severe respiratory syncytial virus (hRSV) infection in human infants [9].While PVM clearly replicates efficiently in mouse lung tissue, the in vitro propagation of this pathogen is significantly less straightforward. The primate BS-C-1 epithelial cell line supports minimal rates of PVM replication in vitro [10]. The BS-C-1 cell line has been used for traditional plaque assays, but PVM-induced plaques develop slowly, have relatively indistinct borders, and are difficult to evaluate quantitatively [see Figure 1A]. Furthermore, from an evolutionary perspective, one would prefer to perform molecular studies of virus pathogenesis in cells from a relevant species, i.e...a rodent cell type or cell line. We have demonstrated that PVM replicates in the mouse LA4 respiratory epithelial cell line [11], but virus growth is similarly slow, even at temperatures permissive for virus propagation in vitro.In this work, we explore PVM replication in several independent cell lines and identify the mouse macrophage RAW 264.7 cells as supporting the highest rates of virus replication. Furthermore, PVM infection of the RAW 264.7 cell line resu
%U http://www.virologyj.com/content/4/1/48