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Virulence and tissue tropism of different epidemiologically significant SARS-CoV-2 variants for golden Syrian hamsters

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1. Title Title of document Virulence and tissue tropism of different epidemiologically significant SARS-CoV-2 variants for golden Syrian hamsters
2. Creator Author's name, affiliation, country Anastasiia V. Gracheva; I.I. Mechnikov Research Institute for Vaccines and Sera; Россия
2. Creator Author's name, affiliation, country Andrey O. Drokov; I.I. Mechnikov Research Institute for Vaccines and Sera; Россия
2. Creator Author's name, affiliation, country Daria I. Smirnova; I.I. Mechnikov Research Institute for Vaccines and Sera; Россия
2. Creator Author's name, affiliation, country Darya M. Khokhlova; I.I. Mechnikov Research Institute for Vaccines and Sera; Россия
2. Creator Author's name, affiliation, country Ekaterina R. Korchevaya; I.I. Mechnikov Research Institute for Vaccines and Sera; Россия
2. Creator Author's name, affiliation, country Andrey A. Pankratov; P.A. Hertsen Moscow Oncology Research Institute — the branch of the National Medical Research Radiological Center; Россия
2. Creator Author's name, affiliation, country Galina V. Trunova; P.A. Hertsen Moscow Oncology Research Institute — the branch of the National Medical Research Radiological Center; Россия
2. Creator Author's name, affiliation, country Varvara A. Khokhlova; P.A. Hertsen Moscow Oncology Research Institute — the branch of the National Medical Research Radiological Center; Россия
2. Creator Author's name, affiliation, country Maria S. Vorontsova; P.A. Hertsen Moscow Oncology Research Institute — the branch of the National Medical Research Radiological Center; Россия
2. Creator Author's name, affiliation, country Irina A. Leneva; I.I. Mechnikov Research Institute for Vaccines and Sera; Россия
2. Creator Author's name, affiliation, country Oksana A. Svitich; I.I. Mechnikov Research Institute for Vaccines and Sera; I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University (Sechenov University); Россия
2. Creator Author's name, affiliation, country Vitaly V. Zverev; I.I. Mechnikov Research Institute for Vaccines and Sera; I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University (Sechenov University); Россия
2. Creator Author's name, affiliation, country Evgeny B. Faizuloev; I.I. Mechnikov Research Institute for Vaccines and Sera; Russian Medical Academy of Continuous Professional Education; Россия
3. Subject Discipline(s)
3. Subject Keyword(s) animal model for COVID-19; golden Syrian hamsters; virulence; tissue tropism; epidemiologically significant SARS-CoV-2 variants
4. Description Abstract

Introduction. Animal models for SARS-CoV-2 infection, reproducing the clinical features of COVID-19 in humans, are important tools for studying the pathogenesis of the disease, transmission of the pathogen and are indispensable for testing antiviral drugs and vaccines.

The aim of the study was to assess the virulence and tissue tropism for golden Syrian hamsters of SARS-CoV-2 strains belonging to different epidemiologically significant variants: Wuhan-like, Delta, Omicron BA.1.1 and Omicron BA.5.2.

Materials and methods. Hamsters were intranasally infected with different SARS-CoV-2 strains. Virulence and tissue tropism of SARS-CoV-2 strains were assessed by comparing the dynamics of weight, viral load in organs and histopathological changes in lungs in infected and uninfected animals.

Results. The Wuhan-like Dubrovka strain had the greatest virulence for hamsters, which was manifested by the development of severe pneumonia and a delay in weight gain by 14.6%, high virus content in the lungs, nasal passages and brain — 6.2, 5,9 and 3.7 lg TCID50/ml of homogenate, respectively. Presumably, it was the infection of the Wuhan-like virus of the central nervous system that negatively affected the weight and general condition of the animals. When hamsters were infected with viruses belonging to the Delta and Omicron variants, the observed minor weight loss in animals was uninformative, so indicators such as lung histopathology, viral load in the lungs, nasal passages, heart and other organs played a decisive role in assessing the virus pathogenicity. A score assessment of lung histopathology was of particular value in assessing the severity of pneumonia, since it reduced subjectivity in evaluating the results of histological examination and provided a semi-quantitative assessment of the pathological process.

Conclusion. Despite the revealed lower virulence for hamsters of viruses belonging to the Delta and Omicron variants compared to the ancestral Wuhan virus, this animal model for COVID-19 retains its value for conducting preclinical trials of antiviral drugs.
5. Publisher Organizing agency, location Central Research Institute for Epidemiology
6. Contributor Sponsor(s) Russian Science Foundation (23-25-00146)
7. Date (DD-MM-YYYY) 10.09.2024
8. Type Status & genre Peer-reviewed Article
8. Type Type Research Article
9. Format File format
10. Identifier Uniform Resource Identifier https://microbiol.crie.ru/jour/article/view/18645
10. Identifier Digital Object Identifier (DOI) 10.36233/0372-9311-528
10. Identifier eLIBRARY Document Number (EDN) jukmca
11. Source Title; vol., no. (year) Journal of microbiology, epidemiology and immunobiology; Vol 101, No 4 (2024)
12. Language English=en en
13. Relation Supp. Files Fig. 1. Study design. The infection dose of 4.0 log10 TCID50 per animal. (608KB)
Fig. 2. Bronchointerstitial pneumonia in hamster on the 4th day post-challenge with different SARS-CoV-2 strains. (7MB)
Fig. 3. Histopathology score of hamster lungs on day 4 post-infection with different SARS-CoV-2 strains. *р < 0.05; **р < 0.01. (134KB)
Fig. 4. Weight dynamics in hamsters infected intranasally with different SARS-CoV-2 strains. K– — uninfected hamsters. (975KB)
Fig. 5. Titer values of different SARS-CoV-2 strains in the organs of Syrian hamsters on the 4th day after infection. *р < 0.05; **р < 0.01. (439KB)
Fig. 6. Distribution of viral RNA in the organs of hamsters infected with different SARS-CoV-2 strains. *р < 0.05; **р < 0.01. (731KB)
14. Coverage Geo-spatial location, chronological period, research sample (gender, age, etc.)
15. Rights Copyright and permissions Copyright (c) 2024 Gracheva A.V., Drokov A.O., Smirnova D.I., Khokhlova D.M., Korchevaya E.R., Pankratov A.A., Trunova G.V., Khokhlova V.A., Vorontsova M.S., Leneva I.A., Svitich O.A., Zverev V.V., Faizuloev E.B.
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