Relationship Between Inactivation of Poliovirus by Phenol and Appearance of Ribonuclease-Labile Infectivity.

Abstract

The influence of phenol concentration, time, and pH on phenolic inactivation of poliovirus at O[degree]C was studied, using the method of plaque production on monkey kidney tissue cultures to measure infectivity. A minimal phenol concentration of about 0.5 [image] was required for removal of all the original ribonuclease-stable poliovirus infectivity. This minimal requirement was influenced slightly by pH; it was lower at pH 4.0 than at pH 6.2 and lower at pH 6.2 than pH 7.4. Amount of inactivation was independent of time of exposure to phenol over range of 0.5 to 240 minutes. Poliovirus populations studied were heterogeneous with respect to phenol-stability, some particles requiring higher phenol concentrations than others for inactivation. Under conditions giving phenolic inactivation of all ribonuclease-stable infectivity, the ribonuclease-labile infectivity was present 0.5 minutes after start of reaction and its titer remained essentially constant for at least 4 hours.