Serial Propagation of the Guinea Pig Salivary Gland Virus in Tissue Culture

Abstract

The virus of guinea pig salivary gland inclusion disease was isolated from inclusion-containing sub-maxillary glands and propagated through 22 serial passages in tissue cultures of guinea pig embryo skin-muscle fibroblasts. Cytopathic changes were accompanied by eosinophilic intranuclear inclusion bodies, and culture fluids from the 10th tissue culture passage produced path-ognomonic inclusions in the submaxillary glands of guinea pigs inoculated subcutaneously and in mononuclear cells of the meningeal exudate of guinea pigs succumbing to intracerebral infection. Tissue culture neutralization and complement fixation tests, using cell homogenates from infected tissue cultures as virus and antigen, demonstrated increases in neutralizing and complement fixing antibody titers in guinea pigs infected with virus from guinea pig passage lines. Commercial guinea pig complement from each of 5 suppliers was found to contain antibody against the guinea pig salivary gland virus tissue culture antigen.