Latent herpesvirus infection of testes and spinal ganglia of turkeys with semen abnormalities.

The present study confirms that herpesviruses (LF) previously isolated from testes and buffy coat cells of male turkeys with semen abnormalities establish a latent infection in testicular cells. These experiments also present the first evidence that these herpesviruses are harbored latently in cells of spinal ganglia. One-week-old turkeys were inoculated with either the LF isolates or the prototype turkey herpesvirus FC 126; allowed to mature sexually through one breeding season and necropsied at one year of age. Persistent infections with all viral isolates were confirmed by repeated reisolation of the viruses from buffy coat cells and the development of specific precipitating antibodies. The herpesviruses were also isolated from several tissues by cocultivation on primary chick kidney cells. Primary testicular cells required subcultivation for the induction of viral replication. Latent viruses were demonstrated by in vitro explanation of testicular and spinal ganglion biopsies which, at the time of explanation, contained no detectable infectious virus, viral antigens or particles. After prolonged in vitro explanation of explants of testes and spinal ganglia tissue yielded infectious virus and viral antigens and particles were identified in outgrowing explant cells.