Cleavability of hemagglutinin determines spread of avian influenza viruses in the chorioallantoic membrane of chicken embryo.

The spread of infection in the chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) has been analysed with pathogenic and non-pathogenic avian influenza A viruses. After allantoic inoculation of pathogenic strains, high titers of infectious virus were found in the allantoic fluid, and virus growth could be demonstrated by immunohistology and electron microscopy in the allantoic epithelium, the mesenchyma, and in the chorionic epithelium. By the same route of inoculation, non-pathogenic strains yielded also higher titers of infectious virus in the allantoic fluid, but virus replication was restricted to the allantoic epithelium and did not occur in the other cell layers. After chorionic inoculation of pathogenic strains, replication occurred in all layers of the CAM, and infectious virus was released into the allantoic fluid. However, when the chorionic epithelium was infected with a non-pathogenic strain, infection did not spread beyond the site of inoculation. These differences in virus spread are based on differential activation of the hemagglutinin by proteolytic cleavage. The hemagglutinin of pathogenic strains is cleaved in cells of each layer, whereas the hemagglutinin of non-pathogenic strains is cleaved only in the allantoic epithelium. In epithelial cells, virus budding occurred nearly exclusively at the apical side of the cell surface, but this polarization of virus maturation was found with both pathogenic and nonpathogenic strains, indicating that it does not account for the differences in virus spread and, thus, in pathogenicity.