title: Viral antigen expression in the pancreas of DHBV-infected embryos and young ducks.
abstract: The time course of appearance of viral antigen-positive pancreatic cells was examined in both congenitally duck hepatitis B virus (DHBV)-infected duck embryos and experimentally DHBV-infected posthatch ducks. In the embryos, the earliest detectable viral antigen-positive pancreatic cells were localized to islets and identifiable as endocrine on the basis of hormone expression. Non-islet-associated, viral antigen-positive cells appeared at a late stage of embryogenesis, following the onset of chymotrypsinogen production by exocrine tissue; a number of these viral antigen-positive cells were directly identifiable as exocrine on the basis of chymotrypsinogen expression. By contrast, in the pancreas of experimentally infected posthatch ducks, the appearance of viral antigen-positive exocrine cells (chymotrypsinogen-positive) predated the appearance of antigen-positive islet cells. These results are consistent with the possibility that viral antigen expression in exocrine tissue is dependent on the state of cell maturation.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004372:Ducks / Q000196:embryology / Q000382:microbiology*; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000276:immunology / Q000662:veterinary*; D006511:Hepatitis B Antigens / Q000276:immunology*; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000276:immunology*; D007515:Islets of Langerhans / Q000196:embryology / Q000276:immunology; D010179:Pancreas / Q000196:embryology / Q000382:microbiology
chemical_list: D006511:Hepatitis B Antigens