[Structure of inclusion bodies and electron microscopic virus detection in naturally occurring inclusion body...

Electron microscopy was used to examine the liver of chickens with spontaneous inclusion body hepatitis. Eosinophilic inclusion bodies only were established from two flocks, mainly amphophilic from one flock, and primarily basophilic from another two flocks. Eosinophilic inclusion bodies were predominant in broiler chickens with dystrophic fatty degeneration of the liver, while basophile inclusion bodies were recorded primarily from parental or laying-hen chickens with reduced metabolic stress of the liver and more focal necrosis. The eosinophilic inclusion bodies consitsed of a filamentous matrix, with virus particles not safely detectable. The amphophilic inclusion bodies contained parvovirus particles, most likely adenoassociated virus, while the basophilic inclusion bodies inclused parvoviruses or adenoviruses (in flock NO. IV) or adenoviruses only (in flock No. V) in an amorphous chromatin matrix. The presence of parvoviruses in field material was taken to suggest a possible role of those pathogens in inclusion body hepatitis.