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Abstract
Three-week-old mice were inoculated with pseudorabies virus by means of the left hind foot pad. Infectious virus was isolated from tissues in the sequence: foot pad, sciatic nerve and dorsal root ganglion, lower, middle, upper spinal cord, and brain. Virus was recovered in one instance only from the liver, but could not be recovered from the spleen or heart blood. The involvement of the kidneys, adrenal glands, coeliac ganglion and skin in the spread of infection was also studied. The possible role of the autonomic nervous system in the pathogenesis is suggested. In this respect, immunosympathectomy prior to inoculation reduced the incidence of infection in the adrenal glands and kidneys. Interruption of the sciatic and femoral nerves led to reduced mortality and an altered pathogenesis. A new pattern of virus isolation from the tissues was observed in mice dying at later times following section or ligation of these nerves. The electron microscope observations indicated that neurons rather than glia are of major importance in facilitating virus spread within and from the nervous system.
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