STUDIES ON THE PROPAGATION OF INFLUENZA AND MUMPS VIRUSES IN TISSUE CULTURE WITH CHEMICALLY-DEFINED MEDIA

Abstract

Optimal conditions have been established for the propagation of influenza virus (PR8 strain) in various chick embryonic tissues cultivated in synthetic medium 199. The propagation of several other influenza strains, both standard laboratory and freshly-isolated, and of mumps virus, has also been studied. Comparative investigations with virus-infected tissues cultivated in medium 199 and in simple inorganic salt solutions have shown that the extent of virus propagation is more dependent on the intracellular material present in the tissues than on the composition of the extracellular culture medium. It has also been shown that virus propagation occurs equally well in healthy, surviving cells, in actively-growing cells, and in cells depleted of nutrients and undergoing degeneration.