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SUMMARYThe pathogenic strain Italien and the apathogenic strain Ulster of Newcastle disease virus have been compared with respect to organ tropism and spread of infection in I I-day-old chick embryos. After infection of the endodermal layer of the chorioallantoic membrane by intra-allantoic inoculation with strain Italien, high virus titres are found in all extra-embryonic membranes and fluids and in the embryo itself. Infection results in early death of the embryo. In contrast, after infection with strain Ulster by the same route of inoculation, high virus titres are found only in the allantoic sac and embryos are not killed. Inoculation with strain Italien on to the ectodermal layer through an artificial air sac results in rapid spread of infection in the chorioallantoic membrane and the embryo dies before the virus invades other tissues including the embryo. Under the same conditions of infection, strain Ulster neither spreads within chorioallantoic membrane nor does it kill the embryo. Virus spread in each germinal layer of the chorioallantoic membrane was analysed by immune fluorescence. These studies showed that endoderm as well as mesoderm and ectoderm allowed the spread of strain ltalien, whereas only the endoderm is permissive for strain Ulster. These differences in host range are based upon differential activation of the virus glycoproteins by proteolytic cleavage. The glycoproteins of strain ltalien are cleaved in each germinal layer, whereas those of strain Ulster are cleaved only in endoderm. These studies demonstrate that, in the system analysed here, spread of infection and organ tropism are important factors for pathogenicity and both of these factors are determined by the susceptibility of the virus glycoproteins to proteolytic cleavage.

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The DNA fraction from a line of bovine embryonic kidney cells originally exposed as primary cultures several months earlier to a temperature-sensitive (ts) mutant of respiratory syncytial (RS) virus could be used to transfect human HEp-2 cells with the production of infectious RS virus. The DNA donor cells, designated BEK/RS ts, retained their healthy fibroblastic appearance during continuous cultivation at a temperature (390) restrictive for growth of the original infecting mutant and showed no evidence for RS virus replication or viral antigen synthesis when directly examined for these activities by conventional methods.

The effect of ouabain (g-strophanthin), a cardiac glycoside, on the growth of several enveloped viruses was examined. It was found that the growth of HVJ (Sendai virus) in chick embryo cells was markedly inhibited by the drug at a concentration as low as 5 X 10-1 M. A virus-inhibitory concentration of ouabain did not cause morphological changes in uninfected cells, nor did it have the capacity to inactivate virus infectivity. Ouabain interfered with the intracellular synthesis of viral macromolecules. Although viral ribonucleic acid and viral antigens were synthesized by the ouabain-treated cells, the rate of synthesis was slower, and the total amounts of these macromolecules were smaller than those in the untreated control cells. It is suggested that ouabain inhibits the function of membrane-bound Na, K-adenosine triphosphatase of the chick embryo cells and thus prevents accumulation of K ion in them. Accumulation of intracellular K ion to a certain level would be needed for events of exponential growth of virus to proceed, and ouabain might inhibit this step by preventing such accumulation of K ion. This view was supported by the finding that the concentration of K ion in the HVJ-infected cells was rapidly reduced by the treatment with ouabain, and that, when the ouabain-treated culture was shifted to a medium containing a higher concentration of K ion than normal medium, virus production started in parallel with the increase of intracellular K ion. The fact that the concentration of K ion in BHK-21 cells, which support virus growth in the presence of ouabain, is not reduced by the treatment with the drug also suggested this possibility.