Murine retrovirus-induced spongiform encephalomyelopathy: host and viral factors which determine the length of the incubation period.

A molecular clone of wild mouse ecotropic retrovirus CasBrE (clone 15-1) causes a spongiform neurodegenerative disease with a long incubation period, greater than or equal to 6 months. This virus infects the central nervous system (CNS) at low levels. In contrast, a chimeric virus, FrCasE, containing env and 3' pol sequences of 15-1 in a Friend murine leukemia virus background, infects the CNS at high levels and causes a rapid neurodegenerative disease with an incubation period of only 16 days. With both viruses, the induction of neurologic disease is dependent on inoculation during the perinatal period. Since the length of the incubation period of this disease appears to be a function of the relative level of CNS infection, we have attempted to identify the viral and host factors which determine the relative level of virus infection of the CNS. It was previously shown that the CNS is susceptible to infection only during the perinatal period (M. Czub, S. Czub, F. J. McAtee, and J. L. Portis, J. Virol. 65:2539-2544, 1991). Here we have found that the susceptibility of the CNS wanes progressively or gradually as a function of the age of the host, this age-dependent resistance being complete by 12 to 14 days of age. Utilizing a group of chimeric viruses, we found that the relative level of CNS infection achieved after inoculation of mice at 1 day of age was a function of the kinetics of virus replication and spread in peripheral organs. Viruses which reached peak viremia titers early (5 to 7 days of age) infected the CNS at high levels, and viruses which reached peak titers later infected the CNS at lower levels. Among the group of viruses examined in the current study, the kinetics of peripheral virus replication and spread appeared to be influenced primarily by sequences within the R-U5-5' leader region of the viral genome. These results suggested that the relative level of CNS infection was determined very early in life and appeared to be a function of a dynamic balance between the kinetics of virus replication in the periphery and a progressively developing restriction of virus replication in the CNS.     

Alpha-toxin of Staphylococcus aureus.

Alpha-toxin, the major cytotoxic agent elaborated by Staphylococcus aureus, was the first bacterial exotoxin to be identified as a pore former. The protein is secreted as a single-chain, water-soluble molecule of Mr 33,000. At low concentrations (less than 100 nM), the toxin binds to as yet unidentified, high-affinity acceptor sites that have been detected on a variety of cells including rabbit erythrocytes, human platelets, monocytes and endothelial cells. At high concentrations, the toxin additionally binds via nonspecific absorption to lipid bilayers; it can thus damage both cells lacking significant numbers of the acceptor and protein-free artificial lipid bilayers. Membrane damage occurs in both cases after membrane-bound toxin molecules collide via lateral diffusion to form ring-structured hexamers. The latter insert spontaneously into the lipid bilayer to form discrete transmembrane pores of effective diameter 1 to 2 nm. A hypothetical model is advanced in which the pore is lined by amphiphilic beta-sheets, one surface of which interacts with lipids whereas the other repels apolar membrane constitutents to force open an aqueous passage. The detrimental effects of alpha-toxin are due not only to the death of susceptible targets, but also to the presence of secondary cellular reactions that can be triggered via Ca2+ influx through the pores. Well-studied phenomena include the stimulation of arachidonic acid metabolism, triggering of granule exocytosis, and contractile dysfunction. Such processes cause profound long-range disturbances such as development of pulmonary edema and promotion of blood coagulation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Interstitial bone stress distributions accompanying ingrowth of a screen-like prosthesis anchorage layer

Recent development of screen-like bonded weaves of titanium wire for orthopaedic implant anchorage affords a unique opportunity for analytic studies of porous ingrowth micromechanics. The regular geometry of individual wires and the periodicity of the mesh weave are exploited in a series of two-dimensional finite element models, mapping interstitial bone stress fields as a function of ingrowth depth and wire size, shape, and spacing.

When the depth of bone ingrowth was less than one wire diameter, peak bone stresses always occurred at the leading (i.e. deepest) edge of bone ingrowth, immediately adjacent to the wire. As ingrowth depth approached a full wire diameter, peak local bone stresses were 2–9 times the nominal applied host bone stress, with greater stresses occurring for lower screen weave densities. Within multiple screen layers, the top layer consistently experienced the peak stress and transmitted most of the applied load, regardless of the number of underlying screen layers surrounded by bone. Neither wire size variations nor partial wire flattening substantially affected general trends in stress predictions.