Hypertrophy, hyperplasia, and infectious virus in gut-associated lymphoid tissue of mice after oral inoculation with simian-human or bovine-human reassortant rotaviruses

Oral inoculation of infants with a vaccine that contains simian-human reassortant rotaviruses has been found to be a rare cause of intussusception. Because intussusception can be associated with enlargement of gut-associated lymphoid tissue, we studied the capacity of simian-human and bovine-human reassortant rotaviruses to cause lymphoid hypertrophy and hyperplasia of Peyer's patches (PP) of adult BALB/c mice. Neither hypertrophy nor hyperplasia was detected in PP after oral inoculation with simian-human or bovine-human reassortant rotaviruses. However, infectious virus was detected in PP and mesenteric lymph nodes after oral inoculation with simian, but not bovine, reassortant rotaviruses. Implications of these findings on the pathogenesis of intussusception are discussed.