Presence of specific antigens in neuronal cells infected with fixed and street rabies virus strains

The presence of rabies specific antigens is investigated after infection with different rabies virus strains in neural cell lines and in the central nervous system of laboratory rodents. In fixed rabies infected cells, the rabies glycoprotein is found to be present 48 h after infection, whereas in hamsters this protein was found 5 days after an intracerebral inoculation. In contrast, rabies glycoprotein was not detectable in any of the street rabies-infected cell system by the fluorescent antibody test, although nucleoprotein was present, showing that infection occurred in these cells. Rabies glycoprotein was also undetectable in the central nervous system (CNS) of athymic nude mice which is known to be very sensitive to street rabies infection and to contain large quantities of viral material. Our results suggest that the smaller amount of rabies glycoprotein synthesized during street rabies infection are of consequence for the pathogenesis of rabies disease. The immunopathology of street rabies virus infection is certainly modulated by the failure of the viral glycoprotein to be present in large quantities on the surface of the infected cellular membrane as in the case of fixed rabies.