Electron microscopy of avian osteopetrosis induced by retrovirus MAV.2-O

Diaphyseal tibial bone of 12.5-13-day and 19-day-old embryos and 20-day-old hatched chicks infected with retrovirus MAV.2-O were examined by transmission electron microscopy. The viruses were associated with lining osteoblasts and osteocytes. Whereas the infection of the osteoblast layer seemed to be a transient stage, virus association with osteocytes was a constant and main ultrastructural feature. The viruses were found either in the osteoid or in the periosteocytic space of the bone lacunae. They arose from dense cytoplasmic areas located near the cell plasmalemma via a budding process. The newly budded virus particles often had a large tail or a fine stalk-like process lost in the extracellular space. The viruses underwent calcification by deposition of inorganic material and were incorporated in the bone trabeculae. No production of virus was observed in typical osteoclasts with well-differentiated ruffled borders. The viral-induced avian osteopetrosis seemed to result from increased bone deposition through stimulation of osteoblast and osteocyte activities, whereas osteoclastic bone resorption seemed to be undisturbed.