Demonstration of anti‐nuclear antibodies in fowl sera by immunofluorescence

Abstract

SUMMARYThe occurrence of anti-nuclear antibodies in fowl sera is described. The anti-nuclear activity was demonstrated by immunofluorescence in a small percentage (3.9%) of the sera tested. The nuclei of cultured fowl and turkey cells were stained by anti-nuclear serum whereas the nuclei of several mammalian tissues were not.Staining of chicken kidney cell nuclei by anti-nuclear serum conjugated with fluorescein isothiocyanate was blocked by unconjugated anti-nuclear serum but not by serum without anti-nuclear activity indicating the specificity of the reaction. The possible confusion between anti-nuclear staining and specific viral staining is discussed, along with the possible association of anti-nuclear factors with disease in birds.

Western blot detection of infectious bursal disease virus infection

“…The use of a rabbit anti-chicken BF serum (blocking tool) eliminated nonspecific reactions (Figure 1, lanes 1, 2 and 3) due to autoantibodies that are commonly detected in chicken serum infected by IBDV and Marek's disease virus (14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19), which impair the interpretation of the test. However, the blocking step did not eliminate two proteins of high molecular weight which were not related to the virus but were present even in the control group (Figure 1, lanes 1 to 6).…”