[Experiment in infecting the green monkey Cercopithecus aethiops with a leukocyte virus isolated in hepatitis A]

The virus isolated in hepatitis A had been previously shown to passage in primary phytohemagglutinin-stimulated leukocyte cultures. The virus designated as leukocyte hepatitis virus (LHV) causes chromosome aberrations in the infected cultures. Some physico-chemical properties of LHV and its capacity for reproduction in other cell systems were studied. In serological surveys of patients and in studies of cellular immunity reactions of them LHV was found in cases of hepatitis. The possibility of producing a laboratory model of hepatitis in green monkeys, morphological reaction to inoculation with LHV, as well as the presence of specific antigen in the inoculated animals by immunofluorescence test using rabbit immune serum to LHV and FITC-labelled gamma globulins from hepatitis A convalescents were investigated. LHV antigen was found in the lymph nodes, spleen and liver. Active morphological reaction of lymph nodes and spleen was observed 30 days after inoculation of monkeys. The results indicate that in green monkeys LHV possesses marked reticulotropic properties without producing clinical hepatitis, therefore African grivet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops), apparently, cannot be used as experimental models for LHV studies in vivo.