Pathogenesis of renal dysfunction in chicks experimentally induced by avian nephritis virus

Renal dysfunction in chicks infected with avian nephritis virus (ANV) at 1 day or 1 week of age was studied. Two chicks inoculated per os and one inoculated intraperitoneally, both infected at 1 day of age, died with visceral urate deposits within 10 to 13 dpi, and the surviving infected chicks showed a markedly reduced weight gain. In a chronological study, ANV was consistently isolated from the kidney irrespective of the route of infection or age of chick. Fluorescent antigen to ANV was also detected as cytoplasmic granules in the tubular cells, accompanied by necrosis of tubular cells. A high concentration of serum uric acid was detected 4 to 13 dpi in chicks infected at 1 day of age and was frequently coincident with detection of the tubular cell necrosis. These results suggest that the increased serum uric acid concentration is caused by viral damage of kidney tubular cells.