Multiplication of Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis Virus in Cultivated Foetal Inbred Mouse Cells and in Neonatally Infected Inbred Carrier Mice

Abstract

SUMMARY The replication of infectious LCM virus and its complement-fixing antigen was followed in cultivated foetal cells from colony-bred albino mice, foetal cells from CBA/Ca, C3H/HeJ, C57BL/6, and DBA/2 inbred mice, and L cells, Typical S-shaped growth curves were obtained in all instances and yields approached lO 4 intracerebral mouse IDs0/cell. After the infection of newborn mice the multiplying virus rapidly reached a plateau of infectivity in tissues which remained thereafter. Ten weeks after neonatal infection the virus concentrations in blood and organs of ordinary albino mice and of CBA, C3H, C57BL/6, and DBA/2 inbred mice showed a wide range with highest levels in the kidneys and lowest in the blood. The multiplication patterns and maximum yields of infectious virus and com- plement-fixing antigen were essentially identical in L cells and in foetal cells derived from five mouse strains; mutatis mutandis the same was true for persisting virus in the blood and organs of neonatal carrier mice.