TY - JOUR
T1 - Virulence profiles of wild-type, P.1 and Delta SARS-CoV-2 variants in K18-hACE2 transgenic mice
AU - da Silva Santos, Yasmin
AU - Gamon, Thais Helena Martins
AU - de Azevedo, Marcela Santiago Pacheco
AU - Telezynski, Bruna Larotonda
AU - de Souza, Edmarcia Elisa
AU - de Oliveira, Danielle Bruna Leal
AU - Dombrowski, Jamille Gregório
AU - Rosa-Fernandes, Livia
AU - Palmisano, Giuseppe
AU - de Moura Carvalho, Leonardo José
AU - Luvizotto, Maria Cecília Rui
AU - Wrenger, Carsten
AU - Covas, Dimas Tadeu
AU - Curi, Rui
AU - Marinho, Claudio Romero Farias
AU - Durigon, Edison Luiz
AU - Epiphanio, Sabrina
N1 - Copyright the Author(s) 2023. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.
PY - 2023/4/19
Y1 - 2023/4/19
N2 - Since December 2019, the world has been experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), and we now face the emergence of several variants. We aimed to assess the differences between the wild-type (Wt) (Wuhan) strain and the P.1 (Gamma) and Delta variants using infected K18-hACE2 mice. The clinical manifestations, behavior, virus load, pulmonary capacity, and histopathological alterations were analyzed. The P.1-infected mice showed weight loss and more severe clinical manifestations of COVID-19 than the Wt and Delta-infected mice. The respiratory capacity was reduced in the P.1-infected mice compared to the other groups. Pulmonary histological findings demonstrated that a more aggressive disease was generated by the P.1 and Delta variants compared to the Wt strain of the virus. The quantification of the SARS-CoV-2 viral copies varied greatly among the infected mice although it was higher in P.1-infected mice on the day of death. Our data revealed that K18-hACE2 mice infected with the P.1 variant develop a more severe infectious disease than those infected with the other variants, despite the significant heterogeneity among the mice.
AB - Since December 2019, the world has been experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), and we now face the emergence of several variants. We aimed to assess the differences between the wild-type (Wt) (Wuhan) strain and the P.1 (Gamma) and Delta variants using infected K18-hACE2 mice. The clinical manifestations, behavior, virus load, pulmonary capacity, and histopathological alterations were analyzed. The P.1-infected mice showed weight loss and more severe clinical manifestations of COVID-19 than the Wt and Delta-infected mice. The respiratory capacity was reduced in the P.1-infected mice compared to the other groups. Pulmonary histological findings demonstrated that a more aggressive disease was generated by the P.1 and Delta variants compared to the Wt strain of the virus. The quantification of the SARS-CoV-2 viral copies varied greatly among the infected mice although it was higher in P.1-infected mice on the day of death. Our data revealed that K18-hACE2 mice infected with the P.1 variant develop a more severe infectious disease than those infected with the other variants, despite the significant heterogeneity among the mice.
KW - SARS-CoV-2
KW - K18-hACE2
KW - Gamma variant
KW - COVID-19
KW - Delta variant
KW - variants of concern
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85156227900&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/v15040999
DO - 10.3390/v15040999
M3 - Article
C2 - 37112979
SN - 1999-4915
VL - 15
SP - 1
EP - 16
JO - Viruses
JF - Viruses
IS - 4
M1 - 999
ER -