Abstract: Rabies virus （RABV） is entirely accomplished its infection in cells cytoplasmic. Cytoskeletal microtubules mediates cargoes to move throughout the cytoplasm. In this study, we investigated the modulatory effect of a microtubule-inhibitor, Nocodazole, on RABV infection in mouse Neuro-2a cells （N2a）. The N2a cells viability was analyzed by MTT. In cells treated with Nocodazole, then infected with laboratory challenge virus standard CVS-11. mRNA level and protein level of RABV were respectively reduced about 25% and 50% by real-time PCR and Western Blot. Significantly, viral infection rate was obviously decent 70% by immunofluorescence and the virus titer was decreased from 10^6.5TCID₅₀/mL to 10^4.5TCID₅₀/mL. These results indicated that RABV undergo intracellular transport mediated by cytoskeleton-microtubule. These results provide a theoretical basis for further study on the intracellular trafficking of RABV and its replication mechanism.

Key words: rabies virus, microtubule, Nocodazole, intracellular infection