Production of high-titer stocks of the English strain of rat cytomegalovirus.

摘要

A simple technique to increase dramatically the yield of rat cytomegalovirus (RCMV) from infected monolayers of a rat embryo fibroblast-derived cell line is described. The method, which involves daily changes of the cell culture medium, can result in a 50000-fold amplification of virus from cell monolayers inoculated with only a few RCMV particles. This modification of the standard in vitro culture technique to amplify viral yield can be used to increase the sensitivity of the plaque assay for detecting very small amounts of infectious virus in organ homogenates of RCMV infected animals.