Abstract
Summary
The paradoxical insusceptibility of mouse cells in vitro to mouse-lethal coxsackievirus A6 was investigated further by infection of mouse fetal cells and newborn mice with RNA extracted from coxsackievirus A6 and mengovirus. Mengovirus RNA induced viral replication in vitro and lethality in vivo, while coxsackie A6 RNA failed to do either. Intact coxsackievirus A6 was also incapable of multiplication in non-trypsinized suspensions of mouse fetal tissue. These studies suggest that loss of viral receptor sites on mouse fetal cells, subsequent to dispersion by trypsin and cultivation, does not explain the insusceptibility of mouse cells in vitro to coxsackievirus A6. The insusceptibility of mouse cells in vitro may represent either disruption of the virus-synthesizing potential of cultivated cells, rather specific in nature, or the biologic integrity of the viral genome.
The authors would like to express their sincere gratitude to Dr. Leroy C. McLaren for advice concerning the initial scope of this work, to Dr. Ernest D. Gray and Mr. Joseph Ferretti for consultation regarding biochemical methods, and to Dr. David T. Imagawa for review of the manuscript. Miss Ann Barna provided stenographic assistance in the preparation of the manuscript.
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