In vitro infection of mononuclear cells derived from various chicken lymphoid tissues by chicken anaemia virus.

Mononuclear cell suspensions derived from spleen, thymus and bone marrow tissues from chickens at 6 and 28 days of age were infected with CAV under various culture conditions. Indirect immunofluorescent staining of cytospin preparations of mononuclear cells revealed greater numbers of cells containing CAV antigens in spleen and bone marrow cultures than in thymus cultured under the same conditions. Cell cultures derived from 6- and 28-day-old chickens were equally susceptible to CAV infection. These results indicate that the age resistance to disease experimentally induced by CAV is not due to disappearance or increased resistance of a target cell. Infectivity titrations demonstrated that mononuclear cell cultures supported CAV replication. However, the virus titres obtained were lower than those detected in CAV infected MDCC-MSB1 cultures.