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Objective: The purpose of this study was diagnosis of Marek’s disease virus as one of the causative agents for visceral tumors in chickens using Polymerase Chain Reaction.
Samples: Forty blood samples from the chickens without any clinical signs of Marek’s disease and another 42 tumoral tissues from commercial chickens were collected.
Proedure: The whole DNA of the samples were extracted using a silica gel DNA extraction kit, then PCR test was performed using specific primers detecting 132bp tandem repeat and antigen Agene of MDV, finally electrophoresis of PCR products was done in lko3%l agarose gel.
Results: No positive results were obtained in blood samples for MDV and it’s Vaccinal strain, but about 47.6% of samples were positive. The tumoral tissues including liver, spleen, proventriculus, ovary, breast muscle and bursa of Fabric us. Conclusion: The Vaccinal strain of MDV (Rispens) was not detected in any of examined blood samples, as the period of viremia for this virus is very short. Serotype 1 of Marek’s disease virus was detected as a causative agent of tumors in the chicken farms of Iran as a first step in this study.
J.Fac. Vet.Med. Univ. Tehran. 60,2:125-130,2005.