Propagation of Poliomyelitis Virus in Cultures of Monkey and Human Testicular Tissues.

Abstract

In expts. in which monkey or human testicular cells in tissue culture were infected with poliomyelitis virus, Lansing and Yale-SK strains, proof was obtained that the virus in 3 passage series had been propagated. For these 3 passage series, the minimal dilution factor based on tissue replacements ranged from 1012.9 to 1018 and when assessed by fluid replacement, from 1024.6 to 1035.1. The LD50 of each strain of virus was detd. on successive transfers, and the identity of each strain of virus was established by neutralization tests and histopathological findings in monkeys dead from the injection of tissue culture virus. Control expts. and other tests demonstrated that propagation of poliomyelitis virus did not occur in the absence of viable testicular cells and that an extraneous virus had not been inadvertently acquired during these studies. The results of the present investigation thus substantiate the observations of other workers that poliomyelitis virus can propagate in extraneural tissues. The assumption of an obligate neurotropism for poliomyelitis virus no longer is tenable. This observation and the demonstration regularly of the natural occurrence in poliomyelitis of virus in the oro-intestinal tract emphasize the need for a renewal of investigative studies of the factors that make possible invasion of the central nervous system to result in the overt and residual manifestations of poliomyelitis.