Summary
Bluetongue viruses (BTV) and epizootic haemorrhagic disease viruses (EHDV) can be propagated in a variety of mammalian cell lines, but in the ruminant host these viruses infect and replicate in endothelium and monocytes/macrophages. In vitro studies of virus-monocyte interactions typically rely on primary ruminant macrophage cultures that cannot be propagated and a continuous cell line of monocytes would be useful in the study of these interactions. The objective of this study was to determine if DH82 cells, a continuous canine macrophage-monocyte cell line, are susceptible to BTV and EHDV infection. We found DH82 cells susceptible to both BTV and EHDV infection resulting in high titres and the development of massive numbers of viral-associated tubules. This system could be useful for viral-monocyte receptor and viral-associated cytokine expression studies, and the production of large quantities of viral-associated tubules for structural or functional studies of these tubules.

Keywords
Bluetongue virus, DH82 cells, Electron microscopy, Epizootic haemorrhagic disease, Viral-associated tubules, Virus isolation.