CANINE BONE-MARROW CELL-CULTURES INFECTED WITH CANINE-DISTEMPER VIRUS- AN IN-VITRO MODEL OF PAGETS-DISEASE

We have previously shown that the canine paramyxovirus, canine distemp er virus (CDV), is a possible aetiologic agent in Paget's disease of b one and in the canine bone disorder, metaphyseal osteopathy. More rece ntly, we have examined the effects of CDV on the formation of multinuc leated, tartrate resistant acid phosphatase positive, calcitonin recep tor positive, osteoclastlike cells in cultures of canine bone marrow m ononuclear cells, and shown that both in vitro and in vivo infection w ith CDV produced a dose dependent increase in the number and size of o steoclastlike cells. We have now extended these results to show that C DV infection induces interleukin-6 and c-Fos mRNA in these cells, simi lar to our recent findings in pagetic bone cells. These results furthe r support the hypothesis that CDV might be involved in the aetiopathog enesis of Paget's disease and metaphyseal osteopathy and suggest that canine marrow culture systems will prove useful as an in vitro model t o examine the disease processes in more detail.