Sarai Guerrero López; Carlos Gerardo García-Tovar; Susana Elisa Mendoza-Elvira; Juan Ocampo-López & Samantha Jardon-Xicotencatl

Summary

Swine respiratory and reproductive syndrome (PRRS) is a highly infectious disease that has a significant negative economic impact on the Mexican pig farming industry. The virus responsible for PRRS relies on the functioning of cells' cytoskeleton, and vimentin is thought to play a role in the virus's replication and transport. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the vimentin cytoskeleton's morphology in MARC-145 cells infected with the PRRS virus, in order to create a cell morphology model that could help identify infection- induced changes in vitro. The results revealed altered patterns of vimentin expression in the perinuclear zone and the formation of syncytia, clusters of cells containing the same protein, starting from 24 hours post-infection (hpi). The study concluded with the destruction of the cell monolayer at 72 hpi, possibly due to the depolymerization of the cytoplasm, leading to a reor ganization of vimentin. This reorganization could be linked to the virus's infectivity and underscores the importance of establishing a morphological model of vimentin for the study of PRRSv. KEY WORDS: Cytoskeleton; Intermediate filaments; PRRS; Cell culture.

How to cite this article

GUERRERO, L. S.; GARCÍA-TOVAR, C. G.; MENDOZA-ELVIRA, S. E.; OCAMPO-LÓPEZ, J. & JARDON-XICOTENCATL, S. Vimentin cytoskeleton rearrangements induced by PRRSv infections. Int. J. Morphol., 43(2):394-400, 2025.