Evaluation of Ebola Virus Countermeasures in Guinea Pigs

Abstract

Ebola virus (EBOV) pathology in humans remains incompletely understood; therefore, a number of rodent and nonhuman primate (NHP) models have been established to study the disease caused by this virus. While the macaque model most accurately recapitulates human disease, rodent models, which display only certain aspects of human disease but are more cost-effective, are widely used for initial screens during EBOV countermeasure development. In particular, mice and guinea pigs were among the first species used for the efficacy testing of EBOV vaccines and therapeutics. While mice have low predictive value, guinea pigs have proven to be a more reliable predictor for the evaluation of countermeasures in NHPs. In addition, guinea pigs are larger in size compared to mice, allowing for more frequent collection of blood samples at larger volumes. However, guinea pigs have the disadvantage that there is only a limited pool of immunological tools available to characterize host responses to vaccination, treatment and infection. In this chapter, the efficacy testing of an EBOV vaccine and a therapeutic in the guinea pig model are described.

Keywords: Animal model; Countermeasures; Ebola virus; Guinea pigs; In vivo experiment; Therapeutics; Vaccines.

Fig. 1

Blood sample collection from the anterior vena cava. The animal is laid on its back under isolfurane anesthesia via a nose cone. The needle is not fully inserted at about a 45° angle to the sternum (top panel, top view) and a 30–45° angle to the guinea pig (bottom panel, side view) for a slow blood draw from the anterior vena cava (up to 1 mL)