Fluorescent Antibody Studies with Herpes Simplex Virus in Unfixed Preparations of Trypsinized Tissue Cultures

Abstract

Herpes simplex virus (Melbourne 1/56) was grown in tissue culture of human amnion and infant-mouse kidney cells. Cell suspensions from infected and uninfected cultures were treated with immune herpes serum followed by fluorescent rabbit anti-human gamma-globulin. The "double-layer" technique described by Weller and Coons (1956) was used, and the results of the staining and of neutralization tests showed a good correlation. Cell damage by an unrelated virus did not give rise to an increased uptake of specific fluorescent material. Non-specific fluorescence was decreased by the use of unfixed preparations.