Studies on the rabbit viral hepatitis II. Electron microscopic observation of the spleen in experimentally infected rabbit

토끼의 바이러스성 간염(肝炎)에 관한 연구(硏究) II. 실험적(實驗的) 오염(汚染) 토끼 비장(脾臟)의 전자현미경적(電子顯微鏡的) 관찰(觀察)

An acute fatal infectious disease in rabbits has been outbroken in Korea since 1985. This disease has been characterized as an acute hepatitis caused by viruses. However, viral pathogenesis in rabbit viral hepatitis leading to sudden death remain unclear. This report dealt with the electron microscopic findings on the spleen of experimentally infected rabbits, because spleen is one of the affected organs which have high titer of virus by a haemagglutination test. A typical crystalline array of virus was not found in the splenic cells of infected rabbits with acute hepatitis. Virus-like particles were seen within the phagosome of macrophages of the spleen. Ultrastructural changes in the spleen were severe with the lapse of time after inoculation. From these results, virus-like particles in the spleen were supposed to be phagocytosed by macrophage during viremia, while active replication of virus occurred in the liver. It was concluded that sudden death in this viral disease was caused by hepatic coma and/or circulatory disturbance.