Abstract
Summary
Venezuelan encephalitis (VE) virions, inactivated by 0.1% sodium deoxycholate (SDC), 50% diethyl ether, or 50% chloroform yielded infectious ribonucleic acid (IRNA) upon hot or cold phenol treatment, but they could not be shown to adsorb to cultured chicken embryonic cells as measured by hemagglutinin in cultural fluid or by interference with homologous virus. These lipid solvents in the above concentrations did not inactivate phenol-extracted IRNA nor did they release IRNA from purified VE virions, although it was found after treatment of crude suspensions of virus which apparently contained incomplete, unstable virions. Therefore, it is postulated that SDC, diethyl ether, or chloroform inactivate VE virus by altering viral surface properties related to adsorption to susceptible cells rather than by disruption of the capsid with release of IRNA or by destruction of IRNA within the virus.
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