Applications of minimally invasive multimodal telemetry for continuous monitoring of brain function and intracranial pressure in macaques with acute viral encephalitis.
Authors: Ma Henry, Lundy Jeneveve D, Cottle Emily L, O'Malley Katherine J, Trichel Anita M, Klimstra William B, Hartman Amy L, Reed Douglas S, Teichert Tobias
Journal: PloS one
Summary
# Editorial Summary Alphaviruses including Venezuelan and Eastern equine encephalitis represent significant zoonotic threats with potential for weaponisation, making vaccine and therapeutic development critical; however, evaluating candidate interventions requires animal models that accurately reflect human CNS disease progression. Researchers implanted telemetry devices in twelve cynomolgus macaques to continuously monitor electroencephalography (EEG) and intracranial pressure (ICP) before and after aerosol exposure to either VEEV or EEEV strains, with data collection spanning up to 50 days and processed into frequency bands (delta, theta, alpha, beta) to detect encephalitis-associated changes against baseline circadian variation. Infected animals demonstrated significant alterations in delta, alpha, and beta EEG band magnitude, disrupted circadian rhythms, and proportional ICP elevations compared to mock-infected controls—quantitative neurophysiological signatures of viral CNS penetration that traditional behavioural and clinical observation alone would not capture. For professionals engaged in translational research or evaluating emerging infectious disease protocols, this refined macaque model offers objective, real-time markers of encephalitic disease onset, severity and recovery trajectory, enabling more rigorous and rapid assessment of vaccine efficacy and therapeutic interventions than conventional assessment methods. Whilst the direct equine relevance is limited, the methodological framework demonstrates how multimodal continuous monitoring can reveal subclinical CNS involvement in systemic viral infections—principles potentially applicable to investigating neurotropic equine viruses such as West Nile virus or herpes encephalitis in clinical and research settings.
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Practical Takeaways
- •Not applicable — this is a non-equine laboratory methodology paper focused on developing a primate disease model for human vaccine/therapeutic testing
Key Findings
- •Telemetry implantation successfully enabled continuous monitoring of EEG and intracranial pressure in awake macaques for up to 50 days
- •Infected macaques showed significant changes in delta, alpha, and beta frequency bands compared to mock-infected controls
- •Circadian rhythm disruption and proportional increases in intracranial pressure correlated with alphavirus infection severity
- •The method allows quantitative assessment of CNS viral penetration and encephalitic disease onset, severity, and resolution