Abstract
Preliminary studies on a series of 13 Rhesus monkeys (Macaco mulatta) indicate that by section of the olfactory tracts it is possible to confine the activity of poliomyelitis virus after intranasal inoculation to the olfactory bulbs. Previous experiments (Brodie and Elvidge, 1 Schultz and Gebhardt 2 ) have shown that monkeys in which both olfactory tracts and bulbs were destroyed did not develop paralysis after introduction of the virus into the nose. These findings, however, give no information regarding the ultimate fate of the virus after such a method of inoculation. The question remains as to whether the virus dies out immediately or may survive in the body—whether it can enter into any reactions with non-nervous tissue, or is capable of conferring any immunity upon its host although the typical picture of clinical poliomyelitis does not appear.
Eight animals were prepared with very careful sections of both olfactory tracts. This was done by an approach through the medial wall of the orbit, well proximal to the olfactory bulbs. The olfactory tracts were delivered through a small slit in the dura and were cut, in most cases without blood loss or damage to the underlying frontal cortex. Most important of all, there was no disturbance to the nervous tissue or blood vessels of the olfactory bulbs, so that the fibrils of the olfactory nerves presumably maintained their normal relations within the nasal mucous membrane. The operated animals and normal controls were inoculated intranasally on 2 successive days with one cc. of a 10-20% suspension of monkey cord containing MV virus. The controls showed a febrile reaction in 3-7 days with paralysis in 7-12 days from the date of inoculation. On the other hand the operated animals remained unparalyzed, although 6 of them developed a marked fever at the same time as the controls.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.