Document Type	Master's Dissertation
Author	Maartens, Louis Henning
Email	louism@deltamune.co.za
URN	etd-03022010-174457
Document Title	Tissue tropism of African Horsesickness virus in the chicken embryo, demonstrated with the avidin-biotin complex immunoperoxidase method
Degree	MSc
Department	Paraclinical Sciences
Supervisor	Advisor Name Title Dr S J Clift Committee Chair Dr B J Erasmus Committee Co-Chair
Keywords	chicken microvasculature immunohistochemistry horse African horsesickness virus immunoperoxidase spleen tropism embryo endothelial cells
Date	2010-03-02
Availability	restricted
Abstract In the horse, the African horsesickness virus exhibits marked tropism for microvascular endothelium of certain tissues and to a lesser extent for components of the mononuclear phagocyte system. Little has been published regarding the tissue tropism of African horsesickness virus in laboratory hosts. In this study, the tissue tropism of African horsesickness virus in chicken embryos, was investigated. Eleven-day-old embryos were inoculated intravascularly with a field isolate of African horsesickness virus serotype 5. Every twelve hours, three embryos were harvested, fixed and sectioned. Histopathology revealed progressive changes associated with endothelial damage from 48 hours post-inoculation. The distribution of viral antigens was studied by means of the avidin-biotin complex immunoperoxidase method. From 24 hours post-inoculation, positive staining could be detected in microvascular endothelium of the spleen, lungs and loose mesenchymal connective tissue at the base of the neck. Subsequently, positive staining increased steadily in the microvascular endothelium of these and other tissues such as skeletal and cardiac muscle, smooth muscle of the gastro-intestinal tract, mesonephric glomeruli, liver, and the subcutis and feathers. Positive staining was occasionally also observed in circulating mononuclear cells and in hepatic Kupffer cells. Semi-quantification of specific staining demonstrated significantly more labelled antigen in the spleen compared to other tissues. It was concluded, in striking similarity to the horse, that this isolate of African horsesickness virus serotype 5 showed marked tropism for the microvascular endothelium of specific organs (such as the spleen and lung) and to a lesser extent for elements of the mononuclear phagocyte system in the chicken embryo. Copyright © 2009, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. Please cite as follows: Maartens, LH 2009, Tissue tropism of African Horsesickness virus in the chicken embryo, demonstrated with the avidin-biotin complex immunoperoxidase method, MSc dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-03022010-174457/ > C10/128/gm
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