A comparative study of pigeons and chickens experimentally infected with PPMV-1 to determine antigenic relationships between PPMV-1 and NDV strains.

To compare the pathogenicity of PPMV-1 in pigeons and chickens, both species of birds were experimentally infected with strain pi/CH/LHLJ/110822, which was isolated from a pigeon in China. The clinical signs, gross lesions, and histopathological changes were observed in pigeons inoculated with pi/CH/LHLJ/110822. The morbidity and mortality rates were 80% and 70% in pigeons, respectively, whereas there were no clinical signs or gross lesions in chickens inoculated with the same strain. The viral loads in tissue samples were detected by real-time RT-PCR, indicating that six tissue samples (i.e., kidney, lung, brain, trachea, Harderian glands, and proventriculus) had detectable viral RNA in all dead pigeons, and significant differences in viral loads between pigeons and chickens were observed in several tissue samples (i.e., Harderian glands, proventriculus, duodenum, pancreas, small intestine, and large intestine) on 3 days post-inoculation (dpi) and in brain tissue on 7 dpi. In general, viral loads in pigeons were higher than those in chickens, whereas antibody titers in pigeons were lower than those in chickens. These results showed differences in pathogenicity, efficiency of viral RNA replication, and humoral immunity, indicating different susceptibilities between the host species. Additionally, the cross hemagglutination inhibition assay and cross virus neutralization tests demonstrated that pi/CH/LHLJ/110822 antigenicity was different from those of strains La Sota and F48E9.