Genetic control of murine cytomegalovirus infection: virus titres in resistant and susceptible strains of mice.

The course of MCMV infection was studied in a number of inbred strains of mice which differ in their resistance to the development of fatal disease induced by MCMV. Both H-2 and non-H-2 associated genes control this form of resistance and were found to influence the extent of virus replication during sublethal and severe infection. However, for a given strain the summated virus titre of the 5 organs studied was not always proportional to resistance strains. Peak titres of virus were found in the liver and spleen of each strain on days 2 to 3 during high dose infection and in resistant mice during low dose infection. Thereafter titres declined rapidly. When the proportion of the summated virus titre which was present in the spleen and liver was compared for a number of strains, variations in the growth of MCMV in the spleen were noted with 13-84 per cent of virus being found in the spleen of BALB/c, BALB.B, BALB.K and A/WySn mice and usually less than 3 per cent in the spleen of C57BL/6, C57BL/10, B10.BR, C3H and CBA mice.