THE USE OF MILLIPORE FILTERS IN ULTRASTRUCTURAL STUDIES OF CELL CULTURES AND VIRUSES

A technique is described for embedding tissue culture cells that have been adsorbed or grown on Millipore filters. The acetone used during the embedding process rendered the filters transparent so that specific areas or cells could be chosen with the aid of the light microscope. Lymphoblastoid cells processed on the filters possessed well-defined plasma membranes and microvilli which were rarely present in cells from parallel cultures that were prepared by pelleting in the centrifuge. Fibroblast cells grown on filters retained their elongated appearance, in contrast to the rounded cells in pelleted preparations. Millipore filters were also used as a means of embedding virus pellets for sectioning. Preparations containing as few as 4 x 10⁸ virus particles were suitable for study by the filter technique. Crude tissue-culture harvests of vaccinia virus and purified preparations of Rauscher murine leukemia and adeno-satellite viruses were successfully examined.     

In situ embedding method of cells grown in beem capsules for immunoelectron microscopic studies of oncornaviruses.

A technique of in situ embedding of cells grown in BEEM capsules has been devised for immunoelectron microscopic studies of oncornaviruses. As compared to other immunoelectron microscopic procedures, this technique is less time and reagent-consuming. The quality and specificity of this method were tested on well-characterized mouse mammary tumor virus (type B virus) and murine sarcoma virus (type C virus particles). This method gave good results in labeling of the virus particles with ferritin or peroxidase in the cells of mouse tissue cultures. In an application of this method, peroxidase labeling of type B virus particles was obtained in frozen sections of normal prostatic tissues of C3H/Dm and A/Dm strain mice treated with rabbit antiserum to mouse mammary tumor virus from A/Dm strain mouse milk. These results indicate that this method is useful and reliable for immunoelectron microscopy studies of oncornaviruses in tissue culture cells and also in frozen sections of tissues.     

Replication of Herpes-Type Virus in a Burkitt Lymphoma Cell Line

Replication of the herpes-type virus in the P3HR-1 Burkitt lymphoma cell line was studied. The cell cultures with 10(6) viable cells/ml were incubated at 33 C for 15 days. The amount of virus in both the cell and fluid portions of the cultures was determined by the loop-drop particle-counting procedure with electron microscopy. An apparent growth curve of the virus was constructed. The maximal cell-associated virus, 10(10) virus particles in an 80-ml culture, was observed after 9 days of incubation. The maximal extracellular virus, 2.5 x 10(9) particles per culture, was observed at the 12th day. About 10% of the released virus particles were enveloped. Under these conditions, there was little or no cell multiplication, but the percentage of immunofluorescent cells reactive to a selected human serum (probably indicating the presence of virus in the cells) increased to a maximum of 50% at the 9th day.     

Mode of Subacute Sclerosing Panencephalitis (SSPE) Virus Infection in Tissue Culture Cells: III. Neurovirulence of Cell-Free SSPE Viruses of Niigata-1, Kitaken-1, and Biken Strains

Cell-free viruses recovered from virus-carrying cultures of the Niigata-1, Kitaken-1, and Biken strains of SSPE virus were examined for neurovirulence. The cell-free viruses were prepared by freezing and thawing or by EDTA treatment of the virus-carrying cultures and inoculated into adult mice intracerebrally. A considerable number of the inoculated mice showed clinical signs about 1 to 5 weeks after the inoculation. The first symptom was hyperreactivity, which was followed by paresis and myoclonus. All of the affected mice fell in paralysis and finally died. The virus could be recovered from the moribund mice by cocultivation of the brain cells with Vero cells. Immunofluorescence staining of the brain tissue revealed that infected cells containing viral antigens were distributed sparsely. No inflammatory feature, however, was observed in the brain as far as examined and neutralizing antibody against SSPE virus was not detected in sera from the mice inoculated with the cell-free SSPE viruses.     

Susceptibility of cell lines of primate and nonprimate origin to certain human viruses

A comparative study was made of the susceptibility of 11 cell lines of human and animal origin, the WI-38 cell strain and fresh cultures of human thyroid, monkey kidney and hamster embryo tissues to certain human viruses. The animal cell lines were derived from monkey, rabbit, mouse, pig and calf tissues. The viruses used were strains of influenza A₂ and B viruses, parainfluenza viruses types 1, 2 and 3, RS virus, adenoviruses types 3, 4 and 21, poliovirus type 1 and Coxsackie A type 21 and Coxsackie B type 3 viruses. Cell lines derived from nonprimate tissues were generally less susceptible than cell cultures of human and simian origin. The combined use of fresh cultures of human thyroid and monkey kidney tissues and of a human cell line seems to provide a satisfactory indicator system for the viruses employed in this study.     

Prolonged replication in the mouse central nervous system of reoviruses isolated from persistently infected cell cultures.

We examined pathogenic characteristics of plaque-purified reoviruses isolated from persistently infected L-cell cultures (PI viruses) after intracranial inoculation into newborn mice. The PI viruses were isolated from independent cultures initiated with high-passage stocks of the wild-type (wt) strain, type 3 Dearing. The virulence of most PI viruses was equivalent to that of the wt strain. However, replication of PI viruses in the central nervous system of infected mice was prolonged to 25 (but not 50) days postinoculation. Thirty-eight percent (n = 186) of mice inoculated with the PI viruses had residual virus detectable in brain tissue 25 days after inoculation, in contrast to only 16% (n = 57) of mice inoculated with wt virus (P = 0.009). Mean residual brain titers were more than 20-fold higher in mice inoculated with PI viruses compared with wt virus (4.3 x 10(4) versus 2.1 x 10(3); P = 0.006). Tropism of PI virus within the brain resembled that of wt virus, and the distribution of PI virus antigen in the brain did not change over time. The extent of necrosis in the brains of mice harboring PI virus 25 days after inoculation was minimal, despite continued presence of high titers of infectious virus. The latter observation resembles the absence of cytopathicity seen in L-cell cultures persistently infected with reovirus. These observations suggest that the interaction of PI viruses with cells can be altered in vivo as well as in cell culture, but virus is eventually cleared from the infected animal.     

In Vitro and In Vivo Observations on a Murine C-Type Virus

From 40 discrete mouse tissue culture cell lines examined by electron microscopy or complement fixation, or both, for the presence of detectable virus, one (NCTC 4705), initiated and maintained on chemically defined medium, was chosen for a more extensive study. Virus-like particles (100 to 110 mμ), morphologically similar to previously reported immature and mature C-type leukemia virus particles, were found budding from the plasma membrane and free in the intracellular spaces of cells in tissue culture and in fibrosarcomas resulting from intramuscular implants of these tissue cultures. Complement-fixation tests for group reactive murine leukemia antigens were positive, with titers consistently higher to a broadly reactive anti-serum than to anti-Friend, anti-Moloney, or anti-Rauscher sera. The 4705 virus was neutralized by Gross antiserum, but not by the F-M-R antisera. When injected into DD, BALB/c, or C3H/He newborn mice, the virus thus far has manifested no leukemogenicity, though virus from tumor extracts and tissue culture medium has been shown to be capable of infecting C3H and Swiss mouse embryo tissue cultures and successfully replicating in them. The role of the virus in accelerating or inducing neoplastic transformation in NCTC 4705 is still not known. When it was introduced into NCTC [ill], a non-neoplastic cell line in other respects similar to NCTC 4705, 4823 manifested no signs of neoplastic transformation after harboring the virus more than 300 days in vitro.     

A notable phenomenon recapitulated. A fusion product of a murine lymphoma cell and a leukemia virus-neutralizing antibody-producer host plasma cell formed spontaneously and secreting the specific antibody continuously

In the mid-1960s the #620 cell passage line of a murine lymphoma-leukemia was developed at the Section of Clinical Tumor Virology and Immunology, Department of Medicine, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Hospital in Houston, TX. The diploid lymphoma cells released a retrovirus and were antigenic in young adult Swiss (YAS) mice. Small lymphoma cell inocula were rejected with immunity acquired against large inocula of lymphoma cells. Tissue sections revealed the "starry sky" configurations. In one of the tissue cultures set up from lymphoma #620, a cell line consisting of large round poly- or tetraploid cells arose and was referred to as lymphoma cell line #818. The #818 cells grew in suspension cultures and in the form of large, lethal ascitic tumors in YAS mice. Diploid #620 lymphoma cells stained for retroviral antigens; #818 cells stained both for retroviral antigens and immunoglobulins. Fluids withdrawn from #818 cultures neutralized the leukemia virus in spleen focus assays. Immunoglobulin precipitated from #818 suspension culture fluids strongly and specifically neutralized the leukemia virus. The growth of #620 or #818 cells in YAS mice treated with rabbit anti-lymphoma cell immune sera was strongly inhibited but culture fluids of #818 cells showed weak and insignificant inhibition against leukemia-lymphoma #620 (in one experiment, unpublished). In two experiments #620 lymphoma cells were co-inoculated with immune spleen cells into the peritoneal cavities of YAS mice. The immune spleen cells derived from mice that rejected #620 cell inocula or were actively immunized with a photodynamically inactivated mouse leukemia virus vaccine. In the peritoneal cavities of mice co-inoculated with #620 cells and immune spleen cells, clones of large round cells emerged with tetra- or polyploid chromosomal modes. These cells stained for leukemia viral antigens and immunoglobulins. When passaged in YAS mice these cells induced lethal ascites tumors. It was concluded as early as in 1968-69 that an immune plasma cell can fuse with a lymphoma cell, if the lymphoma cell expresses retroviral antigens against which the plasma cell is producing a specific antibody. Some human lymphoma-leukemia cells express retroviral antigens and/or budding retroviral particles, whether due to the acquisition of new env sequences by incomplete resident endogenous retroviral genomes or due to the entry of exogenous retroviruses into lymphopoietic stem cells. In the Discussion illustrations are provided for the human cell line #778 established from a patient with "lymphosarcoma cell leukemia" in 1966. The malignant cells released unidentified retrovirus-like particles and fused with one another and with reactive lymphoid cells of the host. It should be investigated further if human lymphoma-leukemia cells could fuse with an immune plasma cell of the host and thus alter the clinical course of the disease.     

Viremia and Virus Measurements of Rabbit Pox in CV-1 Cells

Rabbit pox virus (RPV) produced cytopathic effect (CPE) in five types of cells grown in tissue cultures. The CPE on CV-1 cells was characterized by cell fusion and lysis. The CV-1 line is a useful and sensitive cell culture for measuring concentrations of RPV in blood and tissues of infected rabbits. Viremia was detected between the 2nd and 4th days after parenteral infection. By the 6th and 7th days, the concentration of RPV in various tissues ranged from 10(5-3) to 10(8-5) TCID(50)/g. Cross-reactivity was demonstrated by the fluorescent-antibody technique between rabbit pox, vaccinia, and monkey pox viruses.     

Purification of Rabies Virus Grown in Tissue Culture

Extracellular rabies virus, grown in monolayer cultures of BHK21 cells in the presence of medium supplemented with bovine serum albumin, was purified by the following procedure. Virus was precipitated from infectious tissue culture fluid by zinc acetate and was resuspended in a solution of ethylenediaminetetraacetate. The suspension was filtered through a Sephadex column and was treated with ribonuclease and deoxyribonuclease. The virions were then pelleted by centrifugation at high speed and were resuspended in buffer solution. Banding of the virus by centrifugation in a sucrose density gradient was the final step in the purification procedure. Purified preparations contained bullet-shaped virus particles of variable length and little (up to 5%) contaminating host-cell material. Most of the virions were "complete", i.e., 180 nm long, but some virus particles were shorter. The length distribution of the virions was nonrandom. Shorter virions seemed to be noninfectious and showed markedly decreased hemagglutinating activity. The complement-fixing activity and the ribonucleic acid to protein ratio of the virions were not related to the length of the virus particles. Although the properties of extracellular and intracellular viruses were similar, the procedure was not suitable for purification of intracellular rabies virus.     

Powassan Virus: Morphology and Cytopathology

Powassan virus, a North American tickborne group B arbovirus, multiplied after simultaneous inoculation into bottles or tubes of virus and trypsinized suspension of continuous-line cultures of rhesus monkey kidney cells, strain LLC-MK2. Cytopathic effects comprising cell rounding and cytoplasmic vacuolation were first observed five days after inoculation. Mixture of Powassan antiserum with virus before inoculation into tissue cultures inhibited the appearance of cytopathic effects. Hemagglutinins for rooster erythrocytes, optimally at pH 6.4 and 22° C., first appeared in tissue culture supernatant fluids four days after inoculation.Electron microscopic observation of thin sections of infected tissue culture cells showed virus particles 360-380 A.U. along outer cell membranes and edges of cytoplasmic vacuoles. In phosphotungstic acid negatively stained preparations, intact virus particles, 400-450 A.U. total diameter, were observed inside infected cells. In particles in which the peripheral layer became discontinuous, geometrically arranged subunits compatible with cubic symmetry were observed.     

Characteristics of and Relationship Between C Particles and Intracisternal A Particles in Cloned Cell Strains

Four murine tissue culture cell strains, which originated by cloning from one common cell of subcutaneous connective tissue origin, were examined for the presence of virus by electron microscopy and complement fixation techniques. The relative distribution of C particles and intracisternal A particles was determined. Thereafter, the characteristics of and relationship between A- and C-type particles were investigated. Cell extracts were passaged onto virus-free Swiss and C3Hf mouse embryo tissue cultures; CF and EM tests were again made to investigate the infective capacities of the various particle types. Although C particles were found in passage cultures exposed to extracts from the C particle-bearing strains, no A particles were found in any passage culture. These results indicate that the intracisternal A particle was neither infective nor developmentally associated with the C particle. A positive CF test was correlated with the presence of morphologically detectable C particles and was independent of the concentration of A particles.     

Defective interfering viral particles in acute dengue infections

While much of the genetic variation in RNA viruses arises because of the error-prone nature of their RNA-dependent RNA polymerases, much larger changes may occur as a result of recombination. An extreme example of genetic change is found in defective interfering (DI) viral particles, where large sections of the genome of a parental virus have been deleted and the residual sub-genome fragment is replicated by complementation by co-infecting functional viruses. While most reports of DI particles have referred to studies in vitro, there is some evidence for the presence of DI particles in chronic viral infections in vivo. In this study, short fragments of dengue virus (DENV) RNA containing only key regulatory elements at the 3' and 5' ends of the genome were recovered from the sera of patients infected with any of the four DENV serotypes. Identical RNA fragments were detected in the supernatant from cultures of Aedes mosquito cells that were infected by the addition of sera from dengue patients, suggesting that the sub-genomic RNA might be transmitted between human and mosquito hosts in defective interfering (DI) viral particles. In vitro transcribed sub-genomic RNA corresponding to that detected in vivo could be packaged in virus like particles in the presence of wild type virus and transmitted for at least three passages in cell culture. DENV preparations enriched for these putative DI particles reduced the yield of wild type dengue virus following co-infections of C6-36 cells. This is the first report of DI particles in an acute arboviral infection in nature. The internal genomic deletions described here are the most extensive defects observed in DENV and may be part of a much broader disease attenuating process that is mediated by defective viruses.     

Immunofluorescence and Herpes-Type Virus Particles in the P3HR-1 Burkitt Lymphoma Cell Line

A subline of the P3 (Jijoye) Burkitt lymphoma cell line, designated P3HR-1, initially contained 1 to 5% of cells which were positive by indirect immunofluorescence with selected human sera. After 4 months of propagation, this cell line regularly showed 15 to 40% reactive cells. Antigen(s) in the cell line which was reactive by immunofluorescence was similar or identical to that found in several other Burkitt tumor cell lines in previous studies. When the cells were incubated at 35 or 32 C for 9 to 15 days without refeeding, more than 50% of the cells became immunofluorescence-positive. Thirteen different cultures of P3HR-1 cells, which contained up to 75% immunofluorescence-positive cells, were thin-sectioned and examined by electron microscopy. The percentage of cells containing herpes-type virus particles in the cultures varied from <3 to 78%. There was generally a good correlation between the number of immunofluorescent cells and the number of cells containing virus particles. The number of virus particles per cell section ranged from 1 to more than 100. These results strongly support the hypothesis that the immunofluorescent antigen is related to the presence of the herpes-type virus particle in the cells.     

Stimulation of Herpesvirus saimiri Expression in the Absence of Evidence for Type C Virus Activation in a Marmoset Lymphoid Cell Line

Nucleic acid base analogues were used to examine a Herpesvirus saimiri (HVS)-infected marmoset lymphoid cell line (MLC-1) for possible association with type C viruses. Synthetic templates poly(rA).d(pT)(10) and poly(dA).d(pT)(10) were used to detect RNA-directed DNA polymerase activity in 100-fold concentrated tissue culture fluids. HVS was monitored by immunofluorescence for early, late, and membrane antigens. MLC-1 cells were exposed to 30 mug of 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine (BUdR) per ml for 24 h and examined daily. Similar experiments used 5-iodo-2'-deoxyuridine (IUdR) (20 mug/ml) for 30 h or IUdR (20 mug/ml) for 3 days followed by 2% dimethyl sulfoxide for 4 days. Results of these experiments failed to show any type C virus-like polymerase; however, HVS expression was greatly stimulated. BUdR and IUdR enhanced expression of HVS-associated antigens five- to sevenfold, with maximal stimulation being observed 3 to 4 days after removal of the analogue. IUdR-dimethyl sulfoxide treatment was generally less effective. Although more cells showed HVS antigens, the treatments did not increase cell-free infectious virus. The data suggest that HVS-infected lymphoid cells can be stimulated to express virus in a manner similar to that of the Epstein-Barr virus in Burkitt's lymphoma cells. No evidence of type C virus was found in stimulated cultures.     

Production of the mouse mammary tumor virus in cultures of BALB/cfC3H strain

The mouse mammary tumor virus (MTV) reproduces by a budding mechanism at the cell membrane of mouse mammary epithelial cells. In tissue culture, the tumor cells release their virions in the culture supernatant from which they can be removed by high speed centrifugation. Mammary tumor cells from the RIII, GR, and A strains of mice generally produce yields of virus which decrease after a few months. Cells derived from a spontaneous mammary tumor in a BALB/cfC3H mouse have shown the capability to shed relatively large amounts of virus continuously. A quantitative estimation by membrane immunofluorescence of the number of virus producing cells in one-year-old cultures revealed the presence of viral antigen on 80 to 90% of the cells; by comparison, cultures from other mouse strains had a ratio of only 10 to 15% virus producing cells. High speed centrifugation pellets obtained from 50 ml culture supernatant provided large amounts of mature virus particles which have been characterized by electron microscopy.     

The identification of a novel <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pleurotus ostreatus</Emphasis> dsRNA virus and determination of the distribution of viruses in mushroom spores

Double-stranded RNAs and virus particles were identified in Pleurotus ostreatus strain Shin-Nong in Korea. Isometric virus particles with a diameter of 33 nm were purified, which are similar to other Pleurotus viruses reported previously. This strain contains 5 dsRNAs, 8.0, 2.5, 2.4, 2.0, and 1.8 kb in size. The virus particles contain 2 dsRNAs, designated RNA-1 (2.5 kb), and RNA-2 (2.4 kb) which is a typical pattern of Partitiviridae. A non-encapsidated dsRNA of about 8.0 kb also was identified. Partial cDNA from RNA-1 was cloned, and sequence analysis revealed that this gene codes for RdRp. The comparison of the sequence from partial cDNA clone showed 35% amino acid homology with the C-terminal end of the RdRp gene of Helicobasidum mompa virus and Rosalinia necatrix virus. Specific primers designed from the partial sequences successfully amplified RT-PCR product from the infected mycelium and a single spore culture. We used these primers to determine the pattern of distribution of viruses in spores. Of the 96 different single spore cultures generated from Shin-Nong strain, a specific RT-PCR product was identified in 25 cultures, indicating that about 26% of basidiospores contain viruses.     

Growth characteristics in cell culture and pathogenicity in mice of two terrestrial rabies strains indigenous to Canada

Two strains of street rabies virus from striped skunks (Mephitis mephitis) were used to infect either a murine neuroblastoma (NA 1300) or a baby hamster kidney (BHK-21/C13) cell culture and the cell infection rates were noted during 4 days postinfection. These cultures were then passaged for four consecutive passages, and the viruses obtained in the supernatant fluids of passage 4 were then treated as original isolates and used to infect both neuroblastoma and baby hamster kidney cells. The mortality period in Swiss white mice caused by the various virus suspensions was noted. The virus strain from the brain of skunks from Saskatchewan infected neuroblastoma and baby hamster kidney cells equally well, produced similar virus titres in supernatant fluids after four subcultures in both cell types, and appeared to produce similar mortality periods in mice from either the original brain tissue or from cell culture supernatant fluids. On the other hand, the virus from the brains of skunks from Ontario readily infected neuroblastoma but poorly infected baby hamster kidney cell cultures. Passage of this strain through four subcultures in both cell types produced virus titres in the supernatant fluids of equal magnitude. However, reisolation of the virus from the supernatant fluid of passage 4 in neuroblastoma cell cultures showed a similar pattern to that from the original brain, while the virus from baby hamster kidney cell passage supernatant fluid was considerably altered. Although the mortality period in mice was similar with virus from the brain and neuroblastoma cell cultures, this period was shortened when mice were inoculated with baby hamster kidney culture supernatant virus.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)