Influence of Deuterium Oxide on Biological Systems. A. Virus Growth in Tissue Culture Cells. B. Oxidation of Cholesterol by Rat Liver Mitochondria

摘要

The purpose of the research was to investigate the effects of deuterium oxide (D2O) upon virus growth in tissue culture cell systems. The work carried out was aimed at examining the possibility that the enhancement of virus growth observed with poliomyelitis virus was characteristic of all RNA containing viruses. Three RNA viruses, of varying size, were studied. The first was Western Equine Encephalitis which was propogated in chick embryo fibroblasts grown in Petri dishes. A second series of experiments were carried out with Rubella virus which was grown in monolayer cultures of monkey or rabbit kidney. In a third series of experiments, the effect of D2O upon the growth of several strains of rabies virus in a variety of tissue culture cell systems was studied. The presence of D2O (25 or 40%) in the medium did not affect virus replication in any case. The effects of D2O upon the oxidation of cholesterol-26-C14 and octanoate-1-C14 to C14O2 were investigated by mitochondrial preparations from male and female rat livers. With mitochondrial preparations made in D2O (pH 8.5 or 8.1) the oxidation of both substrates was markedly reduced. Part of the effect on cholesterol oxidation is attributed to inhibition of the rate of nuclear changes which precede side-chain oxidation.