Cultivation of Avian Encephalomyelitis Virus in vitro. 1. In Chick Embryo Neuroglial Cell Culture

Abstract

To date there have been no reports of the successful propagation of avian encephalomyelitis (AE) virus in vitro although the virus has been propagated in 5-to-7-day-old embryonated chicken eggs inoculated via the yolk sac as described by Wills and Moulthrop (5). Adams (1) has outlined the successful cultivation of chicken neuroglial cells in tissue culture using roller tubes, Leighton tubes, and roller-tube coverslips. He trypsinized brains from 2-to-8week-old chickens and employed Scherer's maintenance solution with 10% inactivated calf serum and 20% tryptose phosphate broth as the growth medium. His report indicated that small pieces of tissue debris were necessary for successful cultivation of glial cells. Adams (2) later described the growth of Rous sarcoma virus in cultures of chicken neuroglial cells. The infected cells were morphologically identical to the control cells. This report describes the cultivation of AE virus in chicken neuroglial cell culture. It also presents a modification of Adams' (1) method of growing glial cells in vitro.