Immunohistochemical demonstration of African horse sickness viral antigen in tissues of experimentally infected equines.

African horse sickness virus (AHSV) antigen was demonstrated immunohistochemically in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded sections of tissues collected from three ponies suffering from the peracute form of the disease and from one pony affected by the fever form. The pattern of the antigen distribution indicated a particular organ tropism characterised by an accumulation of AHSV antigen in cardio-pulmonary tissues of the animals with the peracute disease and in the spleen of the pony with the fever form. AHSV antigen was identified in endothelial cells of small blood vessels, particularly capillaries and in large mono-nuclear cells resembling macrophages or reticular cells of lymphatic tissues. Occasional circulating mononuclear cells with the morphology of monocytes were also positively stained within the larger vessels. The immunohistochemical results confirm earlier work suggesting that AHSV may have different tropisms to particular organs during various forms of the disease and that different target cell populations exist in vivo. Immunohistochemistry may be an additional useful method for diagnostic and research purposes in AHS.