DETECTION OF EARLY INFECTION OF SWINE VESICULAR DISEASE VIRUS IN PORCINE CELLS AND SKIN SECTIONS - A COMPARISON OF IMMUNOHISTOCHEMISTRY ANDIN-SITU HYBRIDIZATION

Sensitive methods are required to study the early pathogenesis of swin e vesicular diseases (SVD). Therefore, two new methods, immunohistoche mistry (IHC) and in-situ hybridization (ISH), were developed and reste d for their specificity and sensitivity. With these methods the SVD vi rus (SVDV) infection in cytospins of primary porcine kidney cells and in frozen skin sections was investigated. Both IHC and the ISH showed a specific cytoplasmic staining, but the IHC detected more infected ce lls than the ISH. Furthermore, both IHC and ISH were able to detect SV DV in skin sections 4.5 h after infection. It is concluded that IHC is the most suitable and simplest method to identify cells and tissues t hat support the initial replication of swine vesicular disease virus. However, IHC can only be applied to frozen sections, whereas ISH can a lso be used in paraformaldehyde-fixed tissues. (C) 1997 Elsevier Scien ce B.V.