Pseudorabies virus (PRV) , the causative agent of Aujeszky’s disease (AD), is one of the most harmful pathogens to the pig industry. PRV can infect and kill a variety of mammals. Nevertheless, the underlying pathogenesis related to PRV is still unclear. This study aims to investigate the pathogenesis induced by PRV in a mouse model. The mice infected with the PRV-HLJ strain were developed severe clinical manifestations at 36 hour post-infection (hpi), and mortality occurred within 48-72 hpi. Hematoxylin-eosin staining and qRT-PCR methods were used to detect the pathological damage and expression of cytokines related to immune reaction in brain tissue, respectively. The cytokine storms caused by IFN-α, IFN-β, TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6 and IL-18 were related to the histopathological changes induced by PRV. This pattern of cytokine secretion depicts an image of typical cytokine storms, characterized by dysregulated secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines and imbalanced pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory responses. In addition, the pyroptosis pathway was also activated by PRV by elevating the expression levels of nod-like receptor protein 3, caspase-1, gasdermin-D and interleukin-1β/18. These findings provide a way for further understanding the molecular basis in PRV pathogenesis.

SPSS22.0 software was used to data analyses. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) package in SPSS 22.0 was used to evaluate the statistical significances between PRV and control group. GraphPad Prism6.0 software was used to perform statistical  artworks.