AUTHOR=Melamed Sharon , Politi Boaz , Grauer Ettie , Achdout Hagit , Aftalion Moshe , Gur David , Tamir Hadas , Yahalom-Ronen Yfat , Maimon Shlomy , Yitzhak Efi , Weiss Shay , Rosner Amir , Erez Noam , Yitzhaki Shmuel , Shapira Shmuel C , Paran Nir , Mamroud Emanuelle , Vagima Yaron , Israely Tomer TITLE=Monitoring Group Activity of Hamsters and Mice as a Novel Tool to Evaluate COVID-19 Progression, Convalescence, and rVSV-ΔG-Spike Vaccination Efficacy JOURNAL=Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology VOLUME=9 YEAR=2021 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/bioengineering-and-biotechnology/articles/10.3389/fbioe.2021.737627 DOI=10.3389/fbioe.2021.737627 ISSN=2296-4185 ABSTRACT=

The COVID-19 pandemic initiated a worldwide race toward the development of treatments and vaccines. Small animal models included the Syrian golden hamster and the K18-hACE2 mice infected with SARS-CoV-2 to display a disease state with some aspects of human COVID-19. A group activity of animals in their home cage continuously monitored by the HCMS100 (Home cage Monitoring System 100) was used as a sensitive marker of disease, successfully detecting morbidity symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 infection in hamsters and in K18-hACE2 mice. COVID-19 convalescent hamsters rechallenged with SARS-CoV-2 exhibited minor reduction in group activity compared to naive hamsters. To evaluate the rVSV-ΔG-spike vaccination efficacy against SARS-CoV-2, we used the HCMS100 to monitor the group activity of hamsters in their home cage. A single-dose rVSV-ΔG-spike vaccination of the immunized group showed a faster recovery than the nonimmunized infected hamsters, substantiating the efficacy of rVSV-ΔG-spike vaccine. HCMS100 offers nonintrusive, hands-free monitoring of a number of home cages of hamsters or mice modeling COVID-19.