Detection Of Caprine Arthritis Encephalitis Virus Gag-Gene By Rt-Pcr From Experimentally Infected Goat Brain Cells

Abstract

Different brain cell types obtained from goat cerebrum explant cultures were prepared from newborn goat kids and infected by direct Caprine Arthritis Encephalitis (CAE) virus application. Predominantly, cells of the monocyte-macrophage lineage were specifically infected by the virus as proviral DNA was detected in infected cultures by amplification of a 414 base-pair (bp) fragment of the viral gag-gene by Reverse Transcription- Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) technique. The present study revealed that microglia are the target brain cells infected by the CAE virus. This finding will undoubtedly help in devising some immuno-prophylactic measures to be adopted in the management of neurological dysfunctions resulting from retroviral infections of man (HIV) and animals.

Keywords: CAEV, Gag-gene, Brain cells, RT-PCR

Nigerian Veterinary Journal Vol. 27 (3) 2006 pp. 99-104