Experimental adenovirus infection of the mouse adrenal gland. I. Light microscopic observations.

A murine type of adenovirus has been found to have a highly selective affinity for the adrenal of its natural host. In view of the adrenal pathology in Addison's disease, which consists of cortical atrophy and focal lymphocytic infiltration, the possibility of a viral causation is an attractive hypothesis. The striking adrenotropism of this agent offers, theoretically, a potential experimental animal model for investigation of this possibility. Most of our information about the acute biologic action of adenoviruses has been gained from study of virus-infected tissue culture cells. The sharply focused and severe attack of the murine agent upon a prime target organ facilitates correlative in vivo studies of the cytopathology of adenovirus infection at levels of light and electron microscopy.