RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Identification of Two Classes of Somatosensory Neurons That Display Resistance to Retrograde Infection by Rabies Virus
JF The Journal of Neuroscience
JO J. Neurosci.
FD Society for Neuroscience
SP 10358
OP 10371
DO 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1277-17.2017
VO 37
IS 43
A1 Gioele W. Albisetti
A1 Alexander Ghanem
A1 Edmund Foster
A1 Karl-Klaus Conzelmann
A1 Hanns Ulrich Zeilhofer
A1 Hendrik Wildner
YR 2017
UL http://www.jneurosci.org/content/37/43/10358.abstract
AB Glycoprotein-deleted rabies virus-mediated monosynaptic tracing has become a standard method for neuronal circuit mapping, and is applied to virtually all parts of the rodent nervous system, including the spinal cord and primary sensory neurons. Here we identified two classes of unmyelinated sensory neurons (nonpeptidergic and C-fiber low-threshold mechanoreceptor neurons) resistant to direct and trans-synaptic infection from the spinal cord with rabies viruses that carry glycoproteins in their envelopes and that are routinely used for infection of CNS neurons (SAD-G and N2C-G). However, the same neurons were susceptible to infection with EnvA-pseudotyped rabies virus in tumor virus A receptor transgenic mice, indicating that resistance to retrograde infection was due to impaired virus adsorption rather than to deficits in subsequent steps of infection. These results demonstrate an important limitation of rabies virus-based retrograde tracing of sensory neurons in adult mice, and may help to better understand the molecular machinery required for rabies virus spread in the nervous system. In this study, mice of both sexes were used.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT To understand the neuronal bases of behavior, it is important to identify the underlying neural circuitry. Rabies virus-based monosynaptic tracing has been used to identify neuronal circuits in various parts of the nervous system. This has included connections between peripheral sensory neurons and their spinal targets. These connections form the first synapse in the somatosensory pathway. Here we demonstrate that two classes of unmyelinated sensory neurons, which account for >40% of dorsal root ganglia neurons, display resistance to rabies infection. Our results are therefore critical for interpreting monosynaptic rabies-based tracing in the sensory system. In addition, identification of rabies-resistant neurons might provide a means for future studies addressing rabies pathobiology.