Human Reproduction, Vol. 16, No. 10, 2041-2049,
October 2001
© 2001 European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology
Experimental inoculation of male mice with murine cytomegalovirus and effect on offspring
1 Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM), Unité 355, 92140 Clamart, France and 2 Service d'Expérimentation Animale et de Transgénèse (SEAT), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), 94800 Villejuif, France
BACKGROUND: Murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) was used to examine aspects of viral infection in male mice, and its possible transmission to their offspring. METHODS AND RESULTS: FVB/N mice inoculated intratesticularly with 5x105 plaque forming units (PFU) of MCMV, developed peritoneal haemorrhagic exudates, spleen hypertrophy and acute local infection. Infectiousness was detected until 15 days post-inoculation (D15 PI) in the genital organs, and virus DNA up to D35 PI. Testicular endothelial and Leydig cells were infected, and peritubular cells severely damaged. Spermatogenesis was affected, but neither germ cells nor Sertoli cells were infected. No virus was found in the epididymal epithelial cells. Viral DNA was detected in cells extracted from vas deferens samples until D15 PI. Neither infectious virus nor viral DNA were found in spermatozoa recovered from uterine fluid, fertilized oocytes, blastocysts, fetal tissues or newborn animals following the mating of infected males with uninfected females. CONCLUSIONS: MCMV harboured in the male genital organs was not transmitted to their offspring, even when mating occurred during the acute phase of CMV disease. Although the infection may have had an impact on spermatogenesis, fertility was not affected. These results do not support the hypothesis of conceptus MCMV infection by the fertilizing spermatozoon in natural conception.
Key words: genital organs/infected male/murine cytomegalovirus/virus transmission
3 To whom correspondence should be addressed at: INSERM U 355, 32 rue des Carnets, 92140-Clamart, France.E-mail: anne-marie.courtot{at}inserm.ipsc.u-psud.fr
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