Studies by electron microscopy of thin sections of infectious myxomatosis in rabbits

Rabbits were inoculated with the C.P.M. strain of myxoma virus and the resulting subcutaneous tumors were fixed, embedded, and sectioned for observation with the electron microscope. Both round cells and the typical stellate myxomatous cells were observed in addition to changes in the collagen pattern at the intercellular spaces. The cytoplasm of the cells showed a great number of bodies of varying size and density, the largest of them having the size and other characteristics of the elementary bodies of the virus. Some of the bodies showed an internal structure, being formed by the tight clumping of small dense particles. Distribution curves of the diameter of the elementary bodies and of the smaller internal particles are presented. The morphological problems involved in the virus-host cell relationship are discussed in the case of the myxoma virus.