TY - JOUR
T1 - Detection of infectious laryngotracheitis virus (ILTV) in tissues and blood fractions from experimentally infected chickens using PCR and immunostaining analyses
AU - Tran, Thanh T.
AU - Nazir, Shahid
AU - Yegoraw, Addisu A.
AU - Assen, Awol M.
AU - Walkden-Brown, Stephen W.
AU - Gerber, Priscilla F.
PY - 2021/1
Y1 - 2021/1
N2 - The ability of infectious laryngotracheitis virus (ILTV) to replicate in organs outside of the upper respiratory tract and conjunctiva associated-lymphoid tissues is still not well understood. This study investigated the tissue distribution of an Australian field strain of ILTV (class 9) on birds experimentally inoculated via eye-drop at 7 days of age by using quantitative PCR (qPCR) and immunohistochemistry. Tissues including conjunctiva, caecal tonsil, kidney, liver, lung, spleen, thymus, trachea and blood were collected from sham-inoculated (control group; n = 2) and ILTV-inoculated (n = 8) birds at 7 days post-inoculation (dpi). Blood was collected from 13 infected birds at 14 dpi and fractionated using ficoll-paque. At 7 dpi, the highest detection rate and genomic copies (GC) were in conjunctiva (8/8; 8.08 ± 0.48 log10 GC/mg) followed by trachea (8/8; 4.64 ± 0.48) and thymus (8/8; 4.52 ± 0.48), kidney (8/8; 3.97 ± 0.48), lung (8/8; 3.65 ± 0.48), spleen (8/8; 3.55 ± 0.48), liver (8/8; 3.51 ± 0.48), caecal tonsil (7/8; 3.76 ± 0.48) and plasma (4/8; 2.40 ± 0.48 log10 GC/ml). ILTV antigen was only detected in conjunctiva (7/8), trachea (6/8) and lung (4/8) samples. At 14 dpi, ILTV detection rate and genomic copies in buffy coat cells were 12/13 and 2.86 ± 0.39 log10 GC/mg, respectively while those of plasma were 11/13 and 4.29 ± 0.39 log10 GC/ml and red blood cell were 3/13 and 0.36 ± 0.39 log10 GC/mg. In conclusion, ILTV DNA was detected in a wide range of tissues and blood fractions but ILTV antigen was only detected in respiratory organs and conjunctiva.
AB - The ability of infectious laryngotracheitis virus (ILTV) to replicate in organs outside of the upper respiratory tract and conjunctiva associated-lymphoid tissues is still not well understood. This study investigated the tissue distribution of an Australian field strain of ILTV (class 9) on birds experimentally inoculated via eye-drop at 7 days of age by using quantitative PCR (qPCR) and immunohistochemistry. Tissues including conjunctiva, caecal tonsil, kidney, liver, lung, spleen, thymus, trachea and blood were collected from sham-inoculated (control group; n = 2) and ILTV-inoculated (n = 8) birds at 7 days post-inoculation (dpi). Blood was collected from 13 infected birds at 14 dpi and fractionated using ficoll-paque. At 7 dpi, the highest detection rate and genomic copies (GC) were in conjunctiva (8/8; 8.08 ± 0.48 log10 GC/mg) followed by trachea (8/8; 4.64 ± 0.48) and thymus (8/8; 4.52 ± 0.48), kidney (8/8; 3.97 ± 0.48), lung (8/8; 3.65 ± 0.48), spleen (8/8; 3.55 ± 0.48), liver (8/8; 3.51 ± 0.48), caecal tonsil (7/8; 3.76 ± 0.48) and plasma (4/8; 2.40 ± 0.48 log10 GC/ml). ILTV antigen was only detected in conjunctiva (7/8), trachea (6/8) and lung (4/8) samples. At 14 dpi, ILTV detection rate and genomic copies in buffy coat cells were 12/13 and 2.86 ± 0.39 log10 GC/mg, respectively while those of plasma were 11/13 and 4.29 ± 0.39 log10 GC/ml and red blood cell were 3/13 and 0.36 ± 0.39 log10 GC/mg. In conclusion, ILTV DNA was detected in a wide range of tissues and blood fractions but ILTV antigen was only detected in respiratory organs and conjunctiva.
KW - Antigen
KW - Blood
KW - Class 9
KW - ILTV
KW - Organs
KW - PCR
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85097473327&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://www.scopus.com/record/pubmetrics.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85097473327&origin=recordpage
U2 - 10.1016/j.rvsc.2020.11.024
DO - 10.1016/j.rvsc.2020.11.024
M3 - RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal
C2 - 33310555
SN - 0034-5288
VL - 134
SP - 64
EP - 68
JO - Research in Veterinary Science
JF - Research in Veterinary Science
ER -