Abstract
Primarily this review aims to summarize the principal observations on the effect of certain viruses on cells cultivated in vitro.l The viruses to be considered will be limited to those pathogenic for warm-blooded animals. Excluded, therefore, are those attacking bacteria, plants, insects, and other poikilothermic organisms. A further limitation will consist in the omission, with a few exceptions, of the effect of viruses on malignant cells, since the oncolytic properties of viruses will be reviewed elsewhere in this volume (3) . The significance of the abnormal changes induced by viruses in cultured cells both from the biologic and practical points of view has in the past not been widely recognized, although many who studied viral multiplication in such systems examined their material for the presence of inclusion bodies or other manifestations of injury. The recent demonstration (4) that the agents of poliomyelitis can be propagated in vitro in extraneural tissues with the accompaniment of degenerative changes appears to have stimulated re newed interest in cytopathic phenomena induced by viruses under these con ditions. Of late publications on this subject have greatly increased. But we are as yet far from possessing sufficient data for a complete account of the changes induced by even the mammalian viruses that can be cultivated in vitro. Indeed much investigation still lies ahead which, when completed, should add to our understanding of the basic interactions between host and virus as well as provide practical and simple means for the recognition and possibly the control of viral diseases. The second objective, therefore, of this survey is to indicate directly or indirectly areas where knowledge is still in complete or lacking.
Published Version
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