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. 2021 Jul;68(4):1721-1725.
doi: 10.1111/tbed.13861. Epub 2020 Oct 23.

Pigs are not susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection but are a model for viral immunogenicity studies

Júlia Vergara-Alert  1   2 , Jordi Rodon  1 , Jorge Carrillo  3 , Nigeer Te  1 , Nuria Izquierdo-Useros  3   4 , María Luisa Rodríguez de la Concepción  3 , Carlos Ávila-Nieto  3 , Víctor Guallar  5   6 , Alfonso Valencia  5   6 , Guillermo Cantero  1 , Julià Blanco  3   4   7 , Bonaventura Clotet  3   4   7 , Albert Bensaid  1   2 , Joaquim Segalés  2   8   9
Affiliations

Pigs are not susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection but are a model for viral immunogenicity studies

Júlia Vergara-Alert et al. Transbound Emerg Dis. 2021 Jul.

Abstract

Conventional piglets were inoculated with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) through different routes, including intranasal, intratracheal, intramuscular and intravenous ones. Although piglets were not susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 and lacked lesions or viral RNA in tissues/swabs, seroconversion was observed in pigs inoculated parenterally (intramuscularly or intravenously).

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; immunogenicity model; inoculation routes; lack of susceptibility; pig.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(a) Antibody detection of pigs experimentally inoculated with SARS‐CoV‐2. Detection of antibodies against the spike protein (days 0, 14 and 22 pi) by ELISA in sera from animals inoculated intratracheally (No. 8–10, IT group), intramuscularly (No. 13–15, IM group) and intravenously (No. 18–20, IV group). (b) Antibody detection of pigs experimentally inoculated with SARS‐CoV‐2. Detection of neutralizing antibodies (days 0 and 22 pi) in sera from animals inoculated intratracheally (No. 8–10, IT group), intramuscularly (No. 13–15, IM group) and intravenously (No. 18–20, IV group). The graph shows the reciprocal serum dilution showing neutralization activity versus dpi. Dotted line indicates limit of detection of the assay (1/20 serum dilution). A value of 5 was assigned to undetectable neutralization activity. Unpaired Student's t tests were performed to assess whether neutralizing antibodies significantly increased at 22 dpi. ns, not significant; *p‐value < .05
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