Huabin Zhu, Anuj K Sharma, Karina Aguilar, Faizan Boghani, Semih Sarcan, Michelle George, Janavi Ramesh, Joshua Van Der Eerden, Chandramukhi S Panda, Aileen Lopez, Wenbo Zhi, Roni Bollag, Nikhil Patel, Kandace Klein, Joe White, Muthusamy Thangaraju, Bal L Lokeshwar, Nagendra Singh, Vinata B Lokeshwar
The paucity of preclinical models that recapitulate COVID-19 pathology without requiring SARS-COV-2 adaptation and humanized/transgenic mice limits research into new therapeutics against the frequently emerging variants-of-concern. We developed virus-free models by C57BL/6 mice receiving oropharyngeal instillations of a SARS-COV-2 ribo-oligonucleotide common in all variants or specific to Delta/Omicron variants, concurrently with low-dose bleomycin. Mice developed COVID-19-like lung pathologies including ground-glass opacities, interstitial fibrosis, congested alveoli, and became moribund...
March 15, 2024: IScience