Procedures for reproducible detection of rabies virus antigen mRNA and genome in situ in formalin-fixed tissues

Abstract

Procedures allowing the reproducible in situ detection of rabies virus antigen and RNAs (both genome and message) in formalin-fixed tissue are described. These procedures can be used on sequential tissue sections and thereby permit comparison of results from tests detecting both antigen and RNA in the same tissue. This antigen-detecting procedure has also been used to identify both the phylogenetically distant rabies viruses from silver-haired bat and vampire bat and the rabies-related viruses Mokola, Duvenhage, and Lagos bat. One of the critical steps in these procedures is the digestion (and the resulting exposure of the target molecules) with proteinase K. These methods may be useful for the identification of other viruses of public health importance. Because in many situations only formalin-fixed tissue is available for postmortem diagnosis, the technical ability to identify a virus antigen and nucleic acid in such tissues greatly extends potential diagnostic capabilities.