Reactions of influenza viruses with guinea pig polymorphonuclear leucocytes. I. Virus-cell interactions

Abstract

Influenza A and B viruses, PR8 and Lee strains respectively, adsorbed to guinea pig polymorphonuclear leucocytes (WBC) at the same rates, and at room temperature (22° to 23°) little or no virus eluted spontaneously even when incubated as long as 24 hours. At 37° less virus was adsorbed by WBC, but elution of approximately 20% of the adsorbed virus occurred. The rate of viral adsorption was directly related to the number of WBC and concentration of virus employed. Reduction of electrolyte concentration of the reaction mixture decreased the rate of viral adsorption but did not totally prevent virus-WBC combination. The same number of viral particles saturated a WBC whether the cells were exposed to a high concentration of virus in a single reaction or the same quantity of virus was employed in four adsorptive reactions. The receptor-destroying enzyme of Vibrio cholera (RDE) altered WBC so that combination with influenza viruses could not be accomplished. RDE, however, initiated elution of no more than 10% of virus al ready adsorbed to WBC. Less than 1% of virus which did not elute from WBC could be detected by infectivity or hemagglutination titrations when the cells were completely disrupted. The loss of virus on or in WBC could not be explained by a soluble inhibitor of infectivity in cell homogenates. The WBC homogenates, however, did contain a Francis-type inhibitor of hemagglutination.