Research results: the culture of explants makes it possible to study respiratory diseases in ruminants.
Societal demand to limit the use of laboratory animals is growing, prompting researchers to find alternatives. One of them is to use explant cultures: fragments of tissue taken from biopsies and placed in culture media to keep them alive.
The ENVT is equipped with a microtome, a device allowing precise and fine organ cuts. IHAP researchers were thus able to study the role of the influenza D virus and the bacterium Mycoplasma bovis in bovine respiratory diseases, from lung sections. These sections made it possible to visualize viruses and bacteria in the lung cells and to study the immune response set up by the animal following the infection.
