MODELING ADENOVIRUS TYPE-1-INDUCED OTITIS-MEDIA IN THE CHINCHILLA - EFFECT ON CILIARY ACTIVITY AND FLUID TRANSPORT FUNCTION OF EUSTACHIAN-TUBE MUCOSAL EPITHELIUM

Previous studies have shown that viral upper respiratory tract (URT) i nfection predisposes to the development of bacterial otitis media (OM) . The mechanisms underlying this phenomenon have been well defined for influenza A virus in the chinchilla model of experimental OM but have not been for adenovirus because of the heretofore lack of an appropri ate model. in this study, chinchillas were inoculated intranasally or transbullarly with type 1 adenovirus to assess whether or not the chin chilla could serve as a suitable model for future investigation of ade novirus predisposition to bacterial OM. Data indicated that the chinch illa readily supported an active infection by and responded serologica lly to this agent and that route of inoculation markedly influenced ot oscopic findings, elicitation of middle ear fluids, onset and location of histopathology, and progression of disease. The time course of dis ease onset and recovery and an assessment of the effect of this virus isolate on the mucosal epithelial integrity and on both the ciliary ac tivity and transport function of the eustachian tube epithelium for bo th routes of inoculation are presented.