Coronavirus infection retards the development of the cortico-medullary capillary network in the bursa of Fabricius of chicken.

Coronavirus infection delays the development of the cortico-medullary (CM) capillary network which results in retarded development of bursal follicles. The smaller size of the medulla in the coronavirus-infected birds may lead to a lower number of B lymphocytes and bursal secretory dendritic cells, which negatively affects the reactivity and efficacy of the immune system. Contrary to the wild-type infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) strain, infection induced by H120 vaccine virus exerts only a moderate influence on caveolin-1 expression of the CM capillary web and on follicular development compared to the untreated controls.