Duck Hepatitis B Virus Primary Hepatocyte Culture Model

Hepadnaviruses (1 ) are essentially hepatotrophic, and hepatocytes are the main site of viral replication. Other cells of the same embryonic origin such as the biliary epithelial cells are able to efficiently replicate the virus but represent only a very minor proportion of total liver. The virus can also be found in several nonhepatic tissues, including lymphocytes, kidney, and spleen. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), in particular, could represent a nonhepatic reservoir of virus (2 ), a finding consistent with the recent demonstration that hepatocytes may originate from CD34 bone marrow cells (3 ,4 ). However, primary hepatocyte cultures remain the most efficient culture system for in vitro studies of viral infection.