LONGTERM INFECTION OF CULTURED HAMSTER DORSAL ROOT GANGLIA WITH HALLÉ SSPE VIRUS

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Abstract
Longterm infection of cultured hamster dorsal root ganglia with Hallé SSPE virusThe morphogenesis of Hallé SSPE virus in cultures of hamster dorsal root ganglia (DRG) over a period of 60 days was followed by light and electron microscopy and by immunoperoxidase techniques. The Hallé virus was originally isolated from the lymph node of a patient with SSPE, and had been passaged only in non‐neural cell lines. In organotypic cultures of hamster DRG, all cells except the neurons became infected. Large intracytoplasmic and intranuclear inclusions were commonly found in fibroblasts, but never in Schwann cells. The latter cells rounded up and were lost from the culture by 20 days post‐infection (PI). Cell‐free virus was detected by 7 days PI, reached a maximum at 30–40 days PI, and even at 60 days PI, substantial amounts of virus were still recorded. Budding virus particles were seen throughout the course of the infection. The formation of syncytia was rare. The present results are compared with previous data on the growth of measles virus in hamster DRG, and the growth of measles and SSPE viruses in cultures of hamster cerebellum. It was concluded that among the available strains of SSPE and measles virus, the Hallé strain is unique in its failure to infect nerve cells.