Astrocytic morphological responses in different murine brain regions in the simulation of West Nile fever

: The brains from the mice infected intraperitoneally (with development of these or those symptoms of viral encephalitis) or intramuscularly with the Astrakhan West Nile fever virus strain (AcT 986) was pathomorphologically studied. Clinicomorphological changes in the neurons and vessels of the microcirculatory bed were found in the dorsal regions of medulla oblongata. Immunohistochemicall analysis showed that mature and/or activated astrocytes increased in number, largely in the animals without clinical manifestations of encephalitis. The findings provide evidence that cerebral astrocytes play a protective and adaptive role that seems to depend on the biological properties of the pathogen.