Virucidal effect of murine duodenal extracts: studies with lactate dehydrogenase-elevating virus

Mucosal resistance to infection with lactate dehydrogenase-elevating virus (LDV) has been previously demonstrated, and the LDV system presents an important murine model for the study of mucosal barriers to viral infection. In the present study, duodenal molecules were isolated from normal mice which had potent virucidal activity, when tested against LDV as well as canine herpes, canine hepatitis, Semliki forest, and visna viruses. The virucidal activity was demonstrated to be non-immune in nature, and was present in apparently non-enzymatic protein molecules, having a molecular mass of between 10–100 kDa by membrane filtration and 10–17 kDa by gel filtration. The anti-LDV activity of these molecules was suppressed by anti-duodenum antibodies in vitro, and in vivo studies suggested a possible protective role for the anti-viral molecules. We conclude that the normal mouse duodenum contains potent virucidal molecules, which are of interest to the study of biological and molecular mechanisms of viral resistance.