title: Colchicine treatment in the preparation of varicella-zoster virus inocula.
abstract: Two methods, ultrasonic and colchicine treatment, for preparing varicella-zoster virus (VZV) inocula were compared. Ultrasonic treatment was unsuccessful in achieving the release of detectable, infectious, cell-free VZV from infected human foreskin fibroblast (SF) cells. Sonication of infected SF cells resulted in losses of virus infectivity in direct correlation with losses in cell viability (r = 0.82). In the second method of generating VZV inocula, VZV-infected SF cells were treated for 15 min with 15-20 ng of colchicine per cell. Colchicine treatment maintained short-term survival of virus infectivity, but resulted in a dramatic decrease in long-term cell viability. In addition, colchicine-treated cells could not support the replication of VZV.
authors.affiliation: Indiana University School of Medicine, South Bend Center for Medical Education, Notre Dame.
authors.forename: N L
authors.initials: NL
authors.lastname: Cole
authors.forename: R E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Kingsley
mesh_terms: D002470:Cell Survival; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003078:Colchicine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D014645:Herpesvirus 3, Human / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D006801:Humans; D007700:Kinetics; D008828:Microbiological Techniques; D013010:Sonication; D014765:Viral Vaccines; D014779:Virus Replication / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D014765:Viral Vaccines; D003078:Colchicine