Virus Detection by Nucleic Acid Hybridization: Examination of Normal and ALS Tissues for the Presence of Poliovirus

Abstract
A nucleic acid hybridization assay was developed as a sensitive assay for the presence of poliovirus RNA in human tissue. The assay could detect the presence of an average of 1 poliovirus/200 cells. A method for determining the extent of degradation of the tissue RNA was developed and used to show that a significant fraction of human CNS autopsy material contains highly degraded RNA which is unsuitable for hybridization studies. A total of 15 different control and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) tissues were assayed for the presence of poliovirus-like RNA. Virus RNA was detected in 1 of the control tissues and in none of the ALS tissues.