Long-Trem Observation On Adult Tree Shrews Inoculated With Hepatitis C Virus

Objective By applying a series of molecular biological and immunological assay, to observe the hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection markers in serum of the tree shrews that were inoculated with HCV, and then to explore and confirm the possibility of tree shrews infected with HCV chronically.Methods15tree shrews from laboratory were artificially breeded and inoculated the infectious HCV RNA serum positive. Selecting the different copy number which has been confirmed to be infected with HCV in serurn as the inoculum of infection. High-copy HCV serum (5.2×107copies/ml) was inoculated by subcutaneous plus intraperitoneal injection and HCV serum (3.5×103copies/ml) was inoculated by femoral vein plus intraperitoneal injection. Selecting the testing method for detection of HCV infected tree shrew in vivo. The main testing methods included:Applying FQ-PCR to detect HCV RNA in serum. ELISA to detect HCV immunological markers in serum. Automatic biochemical analyzer to detect ALT in serum. Liver pathology was evaluated.Results High-copy HCV serum which was inoculated by subcutaneous plus intraperitoneal injection showed a better effect:among the six tree shrews that showed persistent infection (carried HCV infection signs for28-weeks), six were inoculated with single HCV patient serum,.Tree shrews which were inoculated with other inoculum showed no evidence as chronic HCV carrier. FQ-PCR results showed the copy numbers of HCV RNA in the serum sample from the six chronic infected animals (153-1and153-4) were105-106copies/ml since12or18weeks after inoculation, the results of ELISA on serum showed that HCV antibody were persistently positive and maintained at stable level in six animals with chronic infection; Automatic biochemistry analyzer method detects the result showed, to present all the vaccination of hepatitis C positive serum of two groups of tree shrew, after inoculation were sustained abnormal elevation. Histological examination of liver biopsies revealed slight inflammatory changes in some of infected animals.Conclusions1.Tree shrews could be steadily infected by hepatitis C virus and served as a relatively stable animal model for study of HCV.2. FQ-PCR diagnostic for HCV RNA and ELISA diagnostic for serum HCV immunological markers and Automatic.biochemistry analyzer method diagnostic for serum ALT were suitable for detecting tree shrew samples, and the results are stable.3. High-copy HCV serum which was inoculated by subcutaneous plus intraperitoneal injection showed a better effect.