title: An ex vivo avian leukocyte culture model for West Nile virus infection.
abstract: West Nile virus (WNV) replicates in a wide variety of avian species, which act as amplification hosts. In particular, WNV generates high titers and elicits severe pathology in American crows (AMCRs; Corvus brachyrhynchos), a species that has been used as a sentinel for WNV transmission. Although the specific cellular targets of WNV replication in AMCRs are not well defined, preliminary evidence suggests that leukocytes may be an important target of early replication. Therefore, development of a protocol for ex vivo culture of AMCR leukocytes as a model for assessing differential avian host susceptibility is described herein. WNV growth in these cultures mirrored in vivo viremia profiles. These data indicate that ex vivo leukocyte cultures can be used for preliminary pathological assessment of novel WNV strains and potentially of other flaviviruses that use avian reservoir hosts.
authors.affiliation: Division of Vector-Borne Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 3156 Rampart Road, Fort Collins, CO 80521, United States.
authors.forename: Elizabeth A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Dietrich
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, Colorado State University, 1683 Campus Delivery, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1683, United States.
authors.forename: Richard A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Bowen
authors.affiliation: Division of Vector-Borne Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 3156 Rampart Road, Fort Collins, CO 80521, United States. Electronic address: abrault@cdc.gov.
authors.forename: Aaron C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Brault
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001715:Bird Diseases / Q000821:virology; D002460:Cell Line; D046368:Crows / Q000821:virology*; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000821:virology*; D014779:Virus Replication / Q000502:physiology*; D014901:West Nile Fever / Q000662:veterinary / Q000821:virology; D014902:West Nile virus / Q000254:growth & development*
keywords: American crow; Avian; Leukocytes; Peripheral blood mononuclear cells; West Nile virus