The susceptibility of culture cells to avian influenza viruses.

The susceptibilities of culture cells to twelve avian influenza virus strains were determined with ten established cell lines including MDCK and ESK cells and three primary culture cells. The established cell lines derived from embryonic swine kidney (ESK) and chicken kidney (CK) primary culture cells were more sensitive to the avian influenza viruses than the other eleven cells. The ESK cell had a particularly higher infective titer than the MDCK cell with and without trypsin supplement in culture medium, and dispersion of the infective titers was narrower than that of the MDCK cell. The ESK cell is a suitable candidate for routine work on avian influenza viruses in laboratories.