Studies on the Relationship of Potassium to Influenza Virus Multiplication

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Abstract
Summary: Potassium deficiency was found to suppress in tissue culture: Growth of chorioallantoic epithelium and fibroblasts.Multiplication of the PR8 strain of influenza virus.Respiration of normal or virus-infected tissue by about 10%. Addition of K+ reversed these suppressive effects. The results indicate that K+ deficiency affects host-virus interactions in 2 ways: Accessibility of virus attached to tissue to neutralization by immune serum.Intracellular synthesis of new virus. Inhibition of viral multiplication by α-amino-p-methoxyphenylmethanesulfonic acid was reversed by excess K+. Hypotheses for the relationship of viral synthesis to K+ metabolism are discussed.