Mouse Model of Sendai Virus-Induced Lung Disease

Sendai virus (SeV), also known as the murine parainfluenza virus 1, is an enveloped negative-sense RNA paramyxovirus from the family Paramyxoviridae and genus Respirovirus. The virus was named after Sendai, city in Japan, where it was first isolated (Kuroya, Ishida, Yokohama Med Bull 4:217-233, 1953). Antigenically, SeV is closely related to human parainfluenza viruses 1 and 3. SeV is pneumotropic and naturally infects the respiratory tract of rodents. At the proper inoculum (2 × 105 pfu), SeV causes infection that is limited to the airway mucosa and inflammation mainly restricted to bronchiolar tissues as seen in asthma pathogenesis models using C57BL/6 wild-type mice (Walter et al, J Clin Invest 110:165-175, 2002). We utilize SeV to explore the mechanism(s) by which a respiratory viral infection translates into postviral airway disease in mice. This chapter primarily describes the protocols we use to infect mice in vivo, assay viral replication, and assess outcomes in the lungs of the host.