Replication of avian influenza viruses in equine tracheal epithelium but not in horses.
Abstract: We evaluated a hypothesis that horses are susceptible to avian influenza viruses by in vitro testing, using explanted equine tracheal epithelial cultures, and in vivo testing by aerosol inoculation of ponies. Results showed that several subtypes of avian influenza viruses detectably replicated in vitro. Three viruses with high in vitro replication competence were administered to ponies. None of the three demonstrably replicated or caused disease signs in ponies. While these results do not exhaustively test our hypothesis, they do highlight that the tracheal explant culture system is a poor predictor of in vivo infectivity.
© 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Publication Date: 2013-11-28 PubMed ID: 24224824PubMed Central: PMC5655884DOI: 10.1111/irv.12188Google Scholar: Lookup
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- Journal Article
- Research Support
- Non-U.S. Gov't
Summary
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The researchers tested whether horses can catch avian influenza. They found that while the virus could grow in horse lung cells in a lab setting, it did not cause infection or disease in real horses.
Objective and Hypothesis
- The researchers aimed to investigate the susceptibility of horses to avian influenza viruses.
- Their hypothesis was that horses could potentially catch these viruses.
- To validate this hypothesis, they used both in vitro (outside the body in a controlled environment) and in vivo (inside the body of a living organism) testing methods.
In Vitro Study
- The team first analyzed the reaction of equine tracheal epithelial cultures, which are basically horse lung cells grown in a lab, to the influenza viruses.
- Their results demonstrated that several subtypes of the avian influenza virus replicated, or made copies of themselves, in this controlled environment.
- This suggested that the virus can survive and multiply in horse lung cells in a lab setting.
In Vivo Study
- Following the in vitro testing, the researchers exposed ponies to three viruses that showed high replication competence in the previous phase.
- To their surprise, none of the three viruses were able to replicate in the ponies.
- Furthermore, the horses displayed no clinical signs of disease, indicating that they had not been infected by the influenza viruses.
Conclusions
- These results question the reliability of the tracheal explant culture system as a good indicator of in vivo infectivity.
- While the lab-grown horse lung cells were susceptible to the avian influenza virus, real live horses did not demonstrate this same susceptibility.
- Although more studies are needed to fully explore this hypothesis, this research suggests that simply because a virus can multiply in lab-grown cells, that does not necessarily mean it can infect a living organism.
Cite This Article
APA
Chambers TM, Balasuriya UB, Reedy SE, Tiwari A.
(2013).
Replication of avian influenza viruses in equine tracheal epithelium but not in horses.
Influenza Other Respir Viruses, 7 Suppl 4(Suppl 4), 90-93.
https://doi.org/10.1111/irv.12188 Publication
Researcher Affiliations
- Maxwell H. Gluck Equine Research Center, Department of Veterinary Science, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA.
MeSH Terms
- Animals
- Birds
- Epithelium / virology
- Horse Diseases / virology
- Horses
- Host Specificity
- In Vitro Techniques
- Influenza A virus / genetics
- Influenza A virus / pathogenicity
- Influenza A virus / physiology
- Influenza in Birds / virology
- Orthomyxoviridae Infections / veterinary
- Orthomyxoviridae Infections / virology
- Trachea / virology
- Virulence
- Virus Replication
References
This article includes 15 references
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Citations
This article has been cited 2 times.- Rather MA, Hassan A, Aman M, Gul I, Mir AH, Potdar V, Koul PA, Ahmad SM, Ganai NA, Shah RA, Chikan NA, Abdul-Careem MF, Shabir N. Molecular and ecological determinants of mammalian adaptability in avian influenza virus. Infection 2025 Oct;53(5):1575-1601.
- Chambers TM. Equine Influenza. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Med 2022 Jan 4;12(1).
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