The Effects of Certain Chemical Agents upon Newcastle Disease Virus with Special Reference to the Action of Urethane

Abstract

The purpose of this investigation was to screen certain chemical agents to see if they interfered with the multiplication of Newcastle disease virus (NDV). Since such screening could involve a prohibitive number of chick embryos and excessive time, 18 chemicals were carefully chosen for the tests. They were selected because there was some evidence that they might interfere with Newcastle disease virus multiplication in one of the specific ways that chemical agents are known to interrupt reproduction of viruses. These interference processes may be classified in the following categories: (1) Competitive inhibition with a normal cellular metabolite. Ackermann (1) and Brown and Ackerman (3), showed that competitive inhibition occurred between dl-ethionine and 1-methionine in the multiplication of poliomyelitis virus when this virus was grown in a human embryonic brain tissue culture medium. An action of certain mercurials was reversed by sodium thioglycolate and British anti-Lewisite (BAL), and the inactivation of influenza A virus by HgCl2 with reactivation by BAL have been recorded also as examples of competitive inhibition. (2) Destruction of cell receptor points so that a virus can no longer be absorbed on the cell. Chemical substances may also exclude virus multiplication by preventing attachment of the virus to the susceptible host cell. This may be brought about by alteration of cell receptor points or by combination of the particular chemical with the virus receptor destroying enzyme (RDE). Groupe et al. (12), have studied antiviral properties of viscosin. It is possible that viscosin, like mucoproteins may tie up the virus RDE excluding virus adsorption to the susceptible host cell.