The Application of Immune Electron Microscopy to the Demonstration of Polyoma Virus Antigen in Cultured Mouse Embryo Cells2

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Abstract
The use of ferritin-labeled antibodies for demonstration of intracellular polyoma virus antigen was investigated. With ferritin immunoglobulin conjugates, specific tagging of characteristic polyoma virus particles was demonstrated in the nuclei and cytoplasm of infected cells. Satisfactory exposure of intracellular antigen to the labeled ferritin was obtained by freeze-sectioning the cells before incubation with the conjugate. Purified conjugates increased the specificity of the staining reaction. The results are discussed with particular reference to the difficulty in the demonstration of precursor protein antigen to the viral capsid.