Gastroenteritis in Suckling Mice Caused by Human Rotavirus Can Be Prevented with Egg Yolk Immunoglobulin (IgY) and Treated with a Protein-Bound Polysaccharide Preparation (PSK)

• Published in: MICROBIOLOGY and IMMUNOLOGY Vol. 34; no. 7; pp. 617 - 629
• Main Authors: Ebina, Takusaburo, Tsukada, Keiko, Umezu, Kouji, Nose, Makoto, Tsuda, Ken, Hatta, Hajime, Kim, Mujo, Yamamoto, Takehiko
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Tokyo Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.01.1990; Center For Academic Publications Japan; Center for Academic Publications Japan
• Subjects: Animals; Antibiotics. Antiinfectious agents. Antiparasitic agents; Antiviral agents; Antiviral Agents - therapeutic use; Biological and medical sciences; Egg Yolk; Fluorescent Antibody Technique; Gastroenteritis - drug therapy; Gastroenteritis - immunology; Human rotavirus; Humans; Immunoglobulins - immunology; Intestine, Small - microbiology; Intestine, Small - pathology; Medical sciences; Mice; Mice, Inbred BALB C; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Polysaccharides - therapeutic use; Rotavirus; Rotavirus - drug effects; Rotavirus - genetics; Rotavirus - immunology; Rotavirus - ultrastructure; Virus Replication; Animal model; Immunoglobulins; Human rotavirus; Gastroenteritis; Rodentia; Suckling animal; Reoviridae; Infection; Virus; Proteins; Prevention; Vertebrata; Experimental disease; Mammalia; Treatment; Mouse; Viral disease; Digestive diseases; IgY; Duovirus; Polysaccharide
• ISSN: 0385-5600; 1348-0421
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1348-0421.1990.tb01037.x

Oral inoculation of human rotavirus MO strain (serotype 3) into 5-day-old BALB/c mice cause gastroenteritis characterized by diarrhea. Clinical symptoms, histopathological changes in the small intestine, and the detection of rotavirus antigen in enterocytes were all characteristic of rotavirus-induced gastroenteritis. Using this small animal model, passive protection of suckling mice against human rotavirus infection was achieved with the use of immunoglobulin (IgY) from the yolks of eggs of rotavirus-immunized hens. When IgY against a rotavirus strain homotypic to the challenge virus (MO strain) was administered in the mice, complete protection against rotavirus infection was achieved. On the other hand, with oral administration of IgY against a heterotypic strain (serotype 1, Wa strain), a lower protective effect was nevertheless obtained. The four different strains of human rotavirus (Wa, KUN, MO, and ST3) were inactivated in vitro by treatment with PSK, a protein-bound polysaccharide preparation, in a dose-dependent manner. Oral administration of 2.5mg of PSK caused a therapeutic effect on experimentally MO-infected suckling mice. The antiviral effect of PSK was indicated by the reduction of the duration of diarrhea.