Abstract
Cotton rats (Sigmodon hispidus) were inoculated intranasally with vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) and exposed to different regimens of small particle aérosols of either recombinant human alpha interferon A (rIFN-αA) or hybrid recombinant human alpha interferon A/D (rIFN-αA/D). Preliminary in vitro tests indicated that both recombinant IFNs were effective in protecting primary cotton rat pulmonary cells against VSV replication. However, rIFN-αA/D was 20-fold more active than rIFN-αA in these tests. In the in vivo tests, in contrast to control animals inoculated with VSV, but not treated, or treated only with aerosols of saline, animals exposed to either rIFN-αA or -αA/D for 8 h per day before and/or following VSV inoculation had no detectable virus titers in their lungs. In experiments in which groups of animals were treated for shorter periods, rIFN-αA was less effective than rIFN-αA/D in suppressing replication of VSV in lungs of these animals.
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