Factors affecting induction of neurological disorders in mice by paralysis-inducing Friend-related PVC viruses.

Our previous studies showed that the passage of the Friend virus complex through rats generated variant MuLVs, designated PVC111, PVC211, PVC321 and PVC441, that induced neurological disorders associated with tremor and paralysis. In this study, we tested the pathogenicity of four different PVC viruses in mice. Although histopathological studies revealed spongiform degeneration in the spinal cords of NFS mice infected with each PVC virus, only PVC441 frequently induced tremor and paralysis. After a long latency, all of these viruses induced leukemia associated with severe anemia. Further studies with PVC441 revealed dose- and age-dependence for tremor induction. In contrast to NFS mice, BALB/c, DBA/2 and C57BL/6 mice infected with PVC441 virus showed no neurological symptoms, although the virus could be isolated from the tissues of central nervous system. Despite the absence of neurological symptoms, a high degree of neuronal degeneration in the lumbar spinal cord was found in PVC441-infected BALB/c mice. A low degree of neuronal degeneration was found in PVC441-infected DBA/2 or C57BL/6 mice. Genetic crosses of these resistant mice with susceptible NFS mice indicated that resistance to tremor induction by PVC441 was dominant in all mouse strains and suggested that various host genes may control the susceptibility of mice to tremor induction by PVC441 virus.