Inhibitors of bovine parvovirus, coronavirus and rotavirus in precolostral and fetal bovine sera

Eleven, 11 and 2 of 11 precolostral sera from normal calves and 13, 14 and 9 of 14 sera from normal fetuses, 7 to 10 months of gestation, neutralized bovine parvovirus, coronavirus and rotavirus, respectively. When assayed by single radial immunodiffusion, all the sera contained IgG at 360 to 1400 mg/dl, and some of them had much smaller amounts of IgM or IgA. Most of the neutralizing activities against bovine coronavirus and rotavirus were readily inactivated by treatment with acetone or 2-mercaptoethanol. Some sera fractionated by Sephadex G-200 gel filtration or starch block electrophoresis had neutralizing activities against bovine parvovirus or coronavirus in fractions containing no detectable amounts of immunoglobulins. These observations seem to indicate the presence of substance(s), other than immunoglobulins, capable of inhibiting replication of bovine parvovirus, coronavirus or rotavirus. The chemical nature and the mode of action of the inhibitors await elucidation.