Rat Adenovirus Infection

Disease due to adenovirus in rats is absent, but lesions, consisting of intranuclear inclusions within small intes­tinal enterocytes, represent incidental findings (Fig. 2.5). Intranuclear inclusions have been induced by treatment of rats with chemotherapeutic agents, presumably acti­vating subliminal infection.

FIG. 2.5. Small intestine from a rat, illustrating an adenoviral intranuclear inclusion body (arrow) in villus epithelium. Enteric adenoviral inclusions are typically located in nuclei of enterocytes that have lost their basal polarity.

Serological surveys indicate that rats commonly sero- convert to mouse adenovirus MAdV-2. Rats could not be infected with mouse adenoviruses MAdV-1 or MAdV-2, suggesting that rats are naturally infected with serologi­cally related but rat-specific adenovirus(es).