THE EFFECT OF INFLUENZA-C VIRUS ON THE PURKINJE-CELLS OF CHICK-EMBRYOCEREBELLUM

Intra-amniotic inoculation of influenza C virus resulted in observable and quantitatively measurable changes in the Purkinje cells of chick embryo cerebellum. Purkinje cells were visualized by the Golgi-Cox pro cedure and prepared for statistical and computer evaluation from camer a lucida drawings. Four computer-generated measurements (the area of t he dendritic arbor, the perimeter of the dendritic tree, and the heigh t and width of the cell's arborization) and two manually counted measu rements (total number of branches and the number of first order branch es) were made. Analysis of Purkinje cells from influenza C virus-infec ted embryos showed disturbances in dendritic arborization patterns and misalignment in the arrangement of the cells in the Purkinje cell lay er compared to control cells. Statistical evaluation of Purkinje cell arborization showed significant decreases in all measured parameters f or the influenza C virus-infected members when compared with the membe rs of the uninfected control group.