title: Ultrastructure of Zika virus particles in cell cultures.
abstract: Zika virus (ZIKV) has infected thousands of Brazilian people and spread to other American countries since 2015. The introduction of ZIKV brought a strong impact to public health in Brazil. It is of utmost importance to identify a susceptible cell line that will enable the isolation and identification of the virus from patient samples, viral mass production, and testing of drug and vaccine candidates. Besides real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction diagnosis for detecting the viral genome, virus isolation in cell lines was useful in order to study the structure of the viral particle and its behaviour inside cells. Analysis of ZIKV infected cell lines was achieved using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Blood was obtained from a Brazilian patient during the first days after presenting with signs of the disease, and ZIKV from the patient's blood was isolated in the C6/36 mosquito cell line. Afterwards, Vero cells were inoculated with the viral suspension, fixed six days after inoculation, embedded in polymers, and ultra-thin cut. Like dengue viruses, this flavivirus showed numerous virus particles present inside cellular vesicles thereby confirming the susceptibility of the Vero cell line to ZIKV replication. TEM is a unique technique available to make the virus visible.
authors: Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Laboratório de Morfologia e Morfogênese Viral, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.
authors: Debora Ferreira
authors: DF
authors: Barreto-Vieira
authors: Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Laboratório de Morfologia e Morfogênese Viral, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.
authors: Ortrud Monika
authors: OM
authors: Barth
authors: Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Laboratório de Morfologia e Morfogênese Viral, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.
authors: Marcos Alexandre Nunes da
authors: MA
authors: Silva
authors: Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Laboratório de Flavivírus, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.
authors: Carolina Cardoso
authors: CC
authors: Santos
authors: Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Laboratório de Flavivírus, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.
authors: Aline da Silva
authors: Ada S
authors: Santos
authors: Laboratório Central de Saúde Pública do Espírito Santo/Virologia, Vitória, ES, Brasil.
authors: Joaquim Batista
authors: JB
authors: F
authors: Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Laboratório de Flavivírus, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.
authors: Ana Maria Bispo de
authors: AM
authors: Filippis
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D002522:Chlorocebus aethiops; D016679:Genome, Viral; D006801:Humans; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D014709:Vero Cells; D014771:Virion / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D014779:Virus Replication; D000071244:Zika Virus / Q000648:ultrastructure*