Differential Response of Cultured Chicken Glial Cells to Infection with Virulent and Non-Virulent Strains of Newcastle Disease Virus

THE culture characteristics of chicken brain neuroglial cells has been described by Adams (1965). Trypsin-dispersed chicken brains yield a population of cells which readily grow and multiply to form confluent monolayers of glial cells. Although astrocytes and various transitional astrocytic forms predominate in these cultures, small colonies of oligodendroglia usually are also present. Cultured chicken neuroglial cells readily support the growth of Rous sarcoma virus (Adams, 1966Adams, 1968) and avian encephalomyelitis virus (Mancini and Yates, 1967). Although these cells support the multiplication of these two viruses, they do not undergo any apparent cytopathogenic changes. The differentiation of velogenic (highly virulent for chickens), mesogenic (less virulent) and lentogenic (non-virulent) strains of Newcastle disease virus (NDV), according to their plaque-forming ability on monolayers of chicken embryo fibroblasts, has been described by Schloer and Hanson (1968) and by Daniel and Hanson (1968). This report describes the differentiation of neurotropic and non-neurotropic strains of…