Ocular tropism of SARS-CoV-2 in animal models with retinal inflammation via neuronal invasion following intranasal inoculation
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Kwon, Hyung-Jun
Ng, Wern Hann
Liu, Xiang
Moon, Hyun Woo
Yoon, Gun Young
Shin, Hye Jin
Lee, In-Chul
Ling, Zheng Lung
Spiteri, Alanna G
King, Nicholas JC
Taylor, Adam
Chae, Ji Soo
Kim, Chonsaeng
Ahn, Dae-Gyun
et al.
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Abstract
Although ocular manifestations are reported in patients with COVID-19, consensus on ocular tropism of SARS-CoV-2 is lacking. Here, we infect K18-hACE2 transgenic mice with SARS-CoV-2 using various routes. We observe ocular manifestation and retinal inflammation with production of pro-inflammatory cytokines in the eyes of intranasally (IN)-infected mice. Intratracheal (IT) infection results in dissemination of the virus from the lungs to the brain and eyes via trigeminal and optic nerves. Ocular and neuronal invasions are confirmed using intracerebral (IC) infection. Notably, the eye-dropped (ED) virus does not cause lung infection and becomes undetectable with time. Ocular and neurotropic distribution of the virus in vivo is evident in fluorescence imaging with an infectious clone of SARS-CoV-2-mCherry. The ocular tropic and neuroinvasive characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 are confirmed in wild-type Syrian hamsters. Our data can improve the understanding regarding viral transmission and clinical characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 and help in improving COVID-19 control procedures.
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Nature Communications
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13
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© The Author(s) 2022. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
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Clinical sciences
Science & Technology
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Science & Technology - Other Topics
RESPIRATORY SYNDROME CORONAVIRUS
INFECTION
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Jeong, GU; Kwon, H-J; Ng, WH; Liu, X; Moon, HW; Yoon, GY; Shin, HJ; Lee, I-C; Ling, ZL; Spiteri, AG; King, NJC; Taylor, A; Chae, JS; Kim, C; Ahn, D-G; et al., Ocular tropism of SARS-CoV-2 in animal models with retinal inflammation via neuronal invasion following intranasal inoculation, Nature Communications, 2022, 13, pp. 7675