Reproductive tract lesions in heifers after intrauterine inoculation with infectious bovine rhinotracheitis virus.

Cross-breed heifers given infectious bovine rhinotracheitis virus by intrauterine inoculation 1 day after natural mating with a noninfected bull were killed on postinoculation days 4 to 14. When reproductive organs were examined for gross and microscopic lesions and for virus infection, the most severe uterine lesions were found in the body and caudal portions of the uterine horns of heifers killed between postinoculation days 4 and 9. Primary pathologic features were necrosis, edema, hemorrhage, and a diffuse accumulation of mononuclear cells, mostly lymphocytes; numerous lymphocytes were in mitosis. In cranial parts of uterine horns, the only lesions observed were a few small lymphocytic foci in the endometrial lamina propria. Lesions were not seen in the oviducts. In many heifers, the ovarian corpus luteum (CL) was cystic. In a few of these heifers, the cyst had a necrotic wall that was bordered by a zone of proliferating mononuclear cells. Focal necrosis and lymphoid proliferation were common in the parenchyma of cystic and noncystic CL. Similar necrotizing lesions were sometimes present in non-CL ovarian tissue. Infectious bovine rhinotracheitis virus was most frequently isolated from the uterine body, the internal os of the cervix, and the CL. Isolations were not made from blood samples taken at the time of necropsy. Isolation of virus from the CL correlated with the detection of luteal inflammation by light microscopy, but did not correlate with the presence of cysts. There also was no correlation between cystic CL and the severity of uterine lesions.