Detection of cellular receptors for Sendai virus in mouse tissue sections.

We have established a method for detecting virus receptors in the tissue sections and have been able to clarify the distribution of cellular receptors for Sendai virus in various mouse organs, including trachea, esophagus, large intestine and cerebrum. The virus receptors were detected in ciliated cells of the trachea, as to be expected for a pneumotropic virus. The lamina propria and connective tissue of the mouse esophagus and large intestine, immediately under the epithelium, contained an abundance at virus receptors, but very few were detected in the epithelium of these organs. In mouse cerebrum, the cells lining the ventricles had a large number of virus receptors.