PANCREATIC PATHOLOGY IN CHICKENS, TURKEYS, AND PIGEONS EXPERIMENTALLY INFECTED WITH NEWCASTLE DISEASE VIRUSES OF DIFFERENT VIRULENCE

Authors: WAKAMATSU, N - UNIV OF GA-ATHENS, GA; King, Daniel; Seal, Bruce; Kapczynski, Darrell; ARMSTRONG, K - UNIV OF GA-ATHENS,GA; STEWART, M - UNIV OF GA-ATHENS,GA; BROWN, C - UNIV OF GA-ATHENS,GA

Submitted to: American College of Veterinary Pathologists Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/28/2005
Publication Date: 11/21/2005
Citation: Wakamatsu, N., King, D.J., Seal, B.S., Kapczynski, D.R., Armstrong, K.R., Stewart, M.J., Brown, C.C. 2005. Pancreatic pathology in chickens, turkeys, and pigeons experimentally infected with newcastle disease viruses of different virulence [abstract]. American College of Veterinary Pathologists Abstracts. 42(5)136.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded pancreatic tissues from birds infected with different Newcastle disease virus (NDV) isolates were compared for the presence of histologic lesions, viral nucleoprotein, and cellular apoptosis. Pancreatic tissues collected from four-week-old specific pathogen free (SPF) White Leghorn chickens infected separately with NDV isolates of low, moderate, or high virulence and three-week-old SPF Beltsville White turkeys, six-week-old commercial Broad Breasted White turkeys, and 10- to 20-week-old racing pigeons infected with a viscerotropic velogenic NDV isolate. Chickens infected with a virulent NDV of either a neurotropic or viscerotropic type and turkeys infected with a virulent NDV of viscerotropic type had extensive microscopic lesions in the pancreas with the presence of viral nucleoprotein. This was accompanied by induction of apoptosis in exocrine and infiltrating inflammatory cells. Minimum tissue changes, comparable to controls, were observed from infections of chickens with isolates of low and moderate virulence and of pigeons with the viscerotropic isolate.