Comparison of the pathogenesis of murine cytomegalovirus in lung and liver following intraperitoneal or intratracheal infection.

This study compares the pathogenesis of murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) infections following intraperitoneal (i.p.) and intratracheal (i.t.) inoculation. No deaths were seen in mice given 10(6) p.f.u. MCMV i.t., whereas 52% mortality occurred among animals given this dose i.p. This difference in mortality was not due to different effects on the lung, since virus titres in this organ on progressive days post-infection were similar for the two routes of inoculation and similar, minor histopathological changes were observed. In contrast, virus titres in the livers of mice inoculated i.p. were 100-fold higher than for those inoculated i.t., and histopathological changes were noticeably greater in the i.p. group. This suggests that the mortality seen following i.p. inoculation may have been due, at least in part, to effects of viral infection on liver function. Parallels between various forms of human cytomegalovirus infections and the types of infections seen following i.t. and i.p. infection with MCMV were observed.