title: A novel, spectrophotometric microneutralization assay for respiratory syncytial virus.
abstract: We describe a simple and rapid microneutralization assay for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) based on the colorimetric quantitation of the conversion of 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) to a formazan product by the mitochondria of viable cells. Conditions for RSV infectivity were first optimized for sensitivity and reproducibility based on cell density and on RSV concentration as a function of multiplicity of infection (MOI) and time post-infection and the resulting optical densities were shown to be inversely proportional to MOI. For RSV neutralization, dilutions of heat-inactivated human plasma were preincubated with RSV and complement prior to infection of cells in microtiter plates. Following MTT dye conversion, 50% RSV neutralization titers were determined by linear regression analysis of the optical density values and endpoints were markedly influenced by MOI. The MTT-based assay was shown to be comparably sensitive to the plaque reduction assay for quantitation of neutralizing antibody, but more readily adaptable to the screening of a large number of samples. Finally, we demonstrated that the MTT microneutralization assay for RSV was useful for quantitation assay of neutralization activity in sera of mice and cotton rats.
authors.affiliation: Cancer and Infectious Diseases Research, Upjohn Laboratories, Kalamazoo, MI 49007.
authors.forename: K L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Rubino
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Nicholas
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood; D003588:Cytopathogenic Effect, Viral; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D009500:Neutralization Tests / Q000379:methods*; D012136:Respiratory Syncytial Viruses / Q000276:immunology* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D016205:Sigmodontinae; D013053:Spectrophotometry / Q000379:methods; D010948:Viral Plaque Assay; D014773:Virology / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral