The pathogenesis of chronic viral hepatitis in the nude mouse and its influence on liver regeneration after partial hepatectomy.

The pathogenesis of chronic viral hepatitis due to infection with mouse hepatitis virus Type 1 has been followed over a period of 30 days in the nu/nu mouse. The initial histopathology is that of a focal hepatic necrosis which evolves into a chronic hepatitis with cirrhosis. The histopathology of the experimentally induced hepatitis with mouse hepatitis Type 1 is indistinguishable from that produced by the disease in nude mouse colonies due to the natural infection in the United Kingdom and also indistinguishable from the histopathology produced by the nude mouse hepatitis virus isolated in Japan. The virus produces a temporary suppression and delay in liver regeneration of nude mice which have been partially hepatectomized and this is compared to the delay in liver regeneration induced by another more virulent strain of mouse hepatitis, Type A59, in the nude mouse.