Experimental viral pneumonia in guinea pigs: an ultrastructural study

Homogenized lung tissue was used to experimentally reproduce lethal viral pneumonia in guinea pigs. The resultant lesions corresponded with those of the spontaneous disease. Pneumonia with necrotic bronchiolar epithelium accompanied by basophilic intranuclear inclusion bodies was the primary finding. With transmission electron microscopy, numerous viral particles were found--mainly within the nucleus of pulmonary epithelial cells but also within the cytoplasm and in extracellular space. The appearance of viral particles, in particular their paracrystalline and crystalline deposition within the nucleus, indicates that our experimentally induced pneumonia was caused by an adenovirus.