Viral growth in splenic megakaryocytes of mice experimentally infected with mouse hepatitis virus, MHV-2.

Electron microscopic and immunofluorescence studies were made on the spleen of mice infected intraperitoneally with mouse hepatitis virus, MHV-2. Virions and their budding process were demonstrable in reticulum cells as well as megakaryocytes at early stage of infection with a marked decrease in number of peripheral platelets, while histiocytes and macrophages were also found to have a large number of virions at later stage.