Etude de l'infection rougeoleuse in vitro et de sa persistance dans les cellules nerveuses en culture

Measles virus can infect neurons in culture. In mouse fetal neurons, infection is spontaneously persistent. Reactivation occurs very rarely. In human fetal neurons, infection is persistent if cells are cultured in human serum. However, if serum-free medium is used, infection becomes lytic and productive.Latency in mouse neurons is apparently due to the species barrier while latency in human neurons is induced by anti-measles virus antibodies contained in the serum. This might explain the difference between measles encephalitis and subacute sclerosing panencepalitis (SSPE), with presence of anti-measles antibody in the brain in the latter and not in the former.