Tissue and organ culture studies of hepatitis B virus.
Techniques have been developed for the cultivation of human and nonhuman primate liver cells in tissue and organ culture. Progressive non-cytocidal involvement of the normal cytoplasmic and nuclear components of cultured liver cells has been demonstrated by specific attachment of fluorescent antibody to hepatitis B core and surface antigens after inoculation of the cultures of human origin with known infective sera and with clinical material. Hepatitis B surface antigen may be produced, although infrequently, in inoculated liver organ cultures but serial passage has not been achieved. Serial passage of hepatitis B virus has been reported with fragments of human embryo liver cultivated on the chorioallantoic membrane of the developing chick embryo. Intranuclear virus-like particles have been localized in hepatocytes of cultured explants of liver biopsies obtained from infants with chronic hepatitis B antigenemia. Further studies are urgently required to determine whether cultivation of hepatitis B virus can be firmly established in readily available cell and organ cultures.
D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000302:isolation & purification; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000276:immunology; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000276:immunology; D002642:Chick Embryo; D046508:Culture Techniques; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000276:immunology; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian / Q000276:immunology; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000382:microbiology*; D006511:Hepatitis B Antigens / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology; D009924:Organ Culture Techniques; D014776:Virus Cultivation / Q000379:methods*
D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D006511:Hepatitis B Antigens