Selective breeding for non-responders modifies serological response to infection With parvovirus in rats kept together with randomly bred rats

Abstract

In a colony of Wistar rats antibodies to Kilham Rat Virus in haemagglutinatien inhibition assay were found in the scra of 26 out of 27 animals sampled While the prevalence in the original colony still maintained in the same unit did not change significantly in the same period, selection of breeding animals based on the absence of such antibodies over seven generations reduced the prevalence in the selected colony to 0 %.