
School of Medicine Publications and Presentations
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
11-28-2024
Abstract
The Zika virus (ZIKV) epidemic elicited a rapid commitment to the development of animal models for ZIKV research. Non-human primates (NHPs) and mice have made significant contributions to this research, but NHPs are expensive, have a long gestation period, and are available only in small numbers; non-genetically modified mice are resistant to infection. To address these deficiencies, we have established the laboratory opossum, Monodelphis domestica, as a small animal model that complements the mouse and monkey models. We developed and validated an indirect ELISA for measuring antibodies to ZIKV in opossums, as well as an immunohistochemistry (IHC) method to detect ZIKV NS1 protein in tissue samples. Opossum pups inoculated intracerebrally as embryos, juveniles inoculated by several routes, and mothers that cannibalized inoculated pups became persistently infected with ZIKV. The virus spread to multiple organs and persisted for up to 38 weeks (the latest endpoint of the experiments). A robust humoral immune response was mounted, and high titers of antibodies also persisted for 38 weeks. The results establish M. domestica as a natural, non-genetically modified animal model in which ZIKV persists long-term after experimental exposure and as a unique animal model for research on the immune response to ZIKV.
Recommended Citation
Pastor, A. F., Mahaney, S. M., Garcia, J., Jr., Morales, M., Quintanilla, O., Arriaga, M. A., Thomas, J. M., III, & VandeBerg, J. L. (2024). The Laboratory Opossum (Monodelphis domestica) Is a Unique Model for Research on Zika Virus: Robust Immune Response, Widespread Dissemination, and Long-Term Persistence. Viruses, 16(12), 1847. https://doi.org/10.3390/v16121847
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Publication Title
Viruses
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/v16121847
Academic Level
faculty
Mentor/PI Department
Office of Human Genetics
Comments
© 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).