Neuropathogenesis of Neurotropic Viruses

Abstract

Neuropathogenesis can simply be defined as the mechanisms of the origin, development and progression of the CNS disease which comprises both neuroinvasion and neurovirulence. Viruses that have the ability to induce neuropathogenesis are called neurotropic pathogens. The exact mechanisms of neuropathogenesis is still unknown, however, the following pathways have been proposed and include retrograde axonal transport, hematogenous spread from the peripheral blood to the cerebral blood vessesls across blood brain barrier, direct invasion of the endothelial cells and endocytosis across the viral receptors. The main neurotropic viral families are picornaviruses, arboviruses, paramixoviruses, arenaviruses and herpes family viruses. In this review, the main mechanisms of neuropathogenesis of the neurotropic members of these viral families was discussed.