Virus Infection of Cells in Mitosis. III. Cytology of Mitotic and Amitotic HEp-2 Cells Infected With Measles Virus2

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Abstract
Studies of HEp-2 cell cultures exposed to measles virus and stained with fluorescein-labeled antibody or acridine orange revealed the presence of measles antigen in interphase cells, mitotic cells, syncytia which may contain hundreds of nuclei, and a small stellate giant cell with “bubbling” cytoplasm and up to 10 nuclei. By a comparison of damaged cellular elements in infected cultures with similar cells in uninfected cultures exposed to X radiation, it was concluded that infection of mitotic cells causes aberrant cleavage or, more frequently, a form of degeneration not unique to measles-virus infection. Although both syncytia and stellate giant cells in infected cultures contained demonstrable viral antigen, the progression of cytopathic manifestations differed. The finding of stellate giant cells in uninfected X-irradiated cultures suggested that they arose from mononucleated cells which had undergone repeated cleavage of the nucleus without corresponding division of the cytoplasm. The finding of stellate giant cells in which all nuclei were arrested in metaphase by colchicine supported this hypothesis.