Bluetongue virus hemagglutination and its inhibition by specific sera

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Bluetongue-virus (BTV) was found to agglutinate a variety of erythrocytes including sheep-, chicken-, guinea pig- and mouse-erythrocytes. Hemagglutination was inhibited specifically with type specific serum. A temperature dependence was only found for chicken erythrocytes, which showed a hemagglutination optimum at 37° C. The hemagglutination was lost upon treatment of the virus with 0.4 per cent trypsin as well as after treatment with 0.01M KJO4. Heating of the virus preparation to 56° C resulted in the loss of the HA-activity. Gelchromatographic studies indicated that the hemagglutinating capacity is associated with the complete virion. Whereas virulent strains of BTV hemagglutinate a number of different erythrocytes the avirulent type tested produced only a slight hemaglutination with sheep red blood cells. However, specific antiserum produced with the avirulent strain yielded strong hemagglutination inhibition (HI) with the corresponding virulent strain. Treatment of sera prior to their use in the HI proved necessary to remove nonspecific inhibitors. The efficiency of KJO4 in removing nonspecific inhibitors indicates that carbohydrates represent the major group of nonspecific inhibitors. The data represented recommend the hemagglutination inhibition test as a new method to identify the various BTV serotypes.