Development of the mouse model for acute hepatitis B virus infection

A mouse model for acute hepatitis B virus(HBV) infection was established by using the hydrodynamical injection of mouse tail vein,in which the immunocompetent BALB/c mice were hydrodynamically injected with a competent replication plasmid pAAV-HBV1.2 having 1.2 fold over-length of HBV DNA.On day 1,2,4,6 and 8 after injection,the levels of HBsAg,HBeAg and HBV DNA in blood serum were detected by using ELISA and fluorogenic quantitative PCR assay(FQ-PCR).And on day 8.HBsAg and HBeAg in liver tissue were assayed by immunohistochemical staining.It was found that HBsAg in blood serum could be detected on day 1 after infection in 14 of 16 mice(85.7%) injected with pAVV-HBV1.2 by using ELISA assay and the peak levels of HBsAg and HBeAg were attained during the first day after injection and then it dropped down gradually up to day 8 following injection.The titer of HBV DNA in blood serum attained its peak on day 2 and maintained a high level later on.On day 8 after injection,its titer was 1.9×104 copies/mL.The percentage of HBcAg-positive hepatocytes and HBsAg-positive hepatocytes in liver tissues were 5% and 2% respectively.Thus,by using the hydrodynamic injection with the competent replication plasmid,a mouse model for acute HBV infection is successively developed.