Susceptibility of organ cultures from chicken tissues for strains of infectious bronchitis virus isolated from the intestine

Organ cultures were prepared from various levels of intestine and kidney of 2 to 4-week old specific-pathogen-free chickens, and their susceptibility to ten strains of infectious bronchitis virus isolated from the chicken intestine and the Massachusetts strain M41 was investigated. The ability of a virus to grow depended on the strain of virus and size of the inoculum. While proventriculus, bursa and kidney were found to be universally susceptible to all viruses tested, some strains did not grow in caecal tonsils or rectum. Strain M41 showed little difference in pattern of tissue replication compared with several other strains isolated from the gut and actually grew in a wider range than some. Duodenum, jejunum and ileum were found to be nonpermissive to all strains tested, even after a high input inoculum.