Flu viruses often enter the body through mucous tissue in the nose. Researchers are developing new ways to protect such areas.
The intent wasn’t to help mice get a clean bill of health at the dentist. Each bit of store-bought floss was coated with dead influenza viruses, or lab-made bits and pieces of them. Ingrole, of Texas Tech University in Lubbock, wanted to vaccinate the animals, giving them protection against flu through their gums.
That pocket is a tough target, however, because it sits below the gumline. “We needed something more precise ,” Gill says. “And then we thought ‘Oh, hey, we already have floss…. Why don’t we just use to also deposit the vaccines into this location?” Even with a support tool, it’s a two-person job to floss a mouse. One person gently holds the mouse — lulled into deep sleep with an inhaled anesthetic — in an upright position by the scruff of its neck. That person also pops the mouse’s head through key ring, allowing the animal’s lower jaw to hang open and rest against the ring’s edge. The second person then plays dental hygienist, swooping in with an influenza-coated piece of floss.
That could mean that although both vaccination methods are good at preventing severe disease and death in mice, intranasal vaccines might be better blocking transmission, Langel says. Adding the right vaccine-boosting compound called an adjuvant to the floss could help the body make more antibodies in places like the saliva or nose to protect against pathogen invasion.
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