Identification by Fluorescent Antibody of Developmental Forms of Psittacosis Virus in Tissue Culture.

Abstract

Mouse embryo liver tissue cultures, inoculated with different dilutions of the psittacosis 6BC strain of virus and harvested at varying intervals thereafter, were examined by the fluorescent antibody technique (indirect method) for the presence of antigen. Inoculation of large dose of virus (10-1) resulted in intra-cellular localization of antigen in most of the outgrowing cells within 16 hours. A moderate dose of virus (10-3) caused focal distribution of specific fluorescence. When a small dose of virus (10-5) was inoculated, no specific fluorescence was detected. During the 72-hour observation period antigen was present in the developmental forms within the cytoplasm of infected cells throughout the different stages that characterize the growth cycle of psittacosis virus.