Liver, pancreas, and kidney from Pekin ducks infected with duck hepatitis B virus (DHBV) were assayed for the presence of both viral antigen and replication-specific forms of viral nucleic acid. In young congenitally infected ducks, antigen was detectable in hepatocytes and bile duct epithelia, in kidney glomeruli and tubular epithelia, and in cells localized to pancreatic acini. In older experimentally infected ducks, antigen was detectable in hepatocytes, in glomeruli and tubular epithelia, and in cells localized to presumptive pancreatic a-islets. All but the glomeruli-associated viral antigen appeared to be localized to the cytoplasm of antigen-positive cells. Much of the glomeruli-associated antigen appeared to be extracellular and was detected in glomeruli that were positive for the accumulation of immunoglobulin, observations suggestive of the deposition of viral antigen-antibody complexes. As analyzed with bulk tissue, replication-specific forms of viral nucleic acid were detectable in liver and pancreas from the young congenitally infected ducks and in liver and kidney from the older experimentally infected ducks.
In a previous study (1), we observed that antigen cross-reactive with structural protein of the endogenous retrovirus RAV-O is expressed in splenic Ig(+) B lymphocytes of immunized 15I5 X 71 chickens. The present experiments were undertaken to determine the relationship of this antigen to viral gag- and env-coded antigenic specificities. As analyzed by immunofluorescence with several antisera, group-specific determinants of the gp85 envelope glycoprotein as well as viral-related type E-specific determinants were detectable in islands of Ig(+) splenocytes; antigenic determinants of viral gag protein were not detected in the splenic islands. These observations indicated that antigen cross-reactive with endogenous retroviral envelope glycoprotein is expressed in Ig(+) B cells.
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