Fetal mice with Zika infection get microcephaly
Wednesday, May 11, 2016 - 18:21
in Biology & Nature
This photo demonstrates the difference in size in Zika virus-infected vs. uninfected fetal mouse brains. Mouse fetuses injected with the Asian Zika virus strain and carried to term within their pregnant mothers display the characteristic features of microcephaly, researchers in China report May 11 in Cell Stem Cell. As expected, the virus infected the neural progenitor cells, and infected brains reveal expression of genes related to viral entry, altered immune response, and cell death. The authors say this is direct evidence that Zika infection causes microcephaly in a mammalian animal model.