Propagation of recombinant vaccinia virus in HeLa cells: adsorption kinetics and replication in batch cultures

The influence of various culture parameters on infection and replication of recombinant vaccinia virus in HeLa cells was examined during various phases of viral replication. A modified form of the model of Valentine and Allison (Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1960, 40, 393-399) model was used to predict successfully the viral adsorption rates in cell suspensions. An experimentally determined aggregation factor, epsilon, was included in the model to account for deviations of the observed adsorption rates from those predicted by the earlier model. It was also shown that the ionic strength, ionic species, and serum proteins present in the medium significantly altered the adsorption kinetics of the virus. The lysosomotropic base chloroquine was found to enhance viral infection more than 2-fold during the penetration step of viral infection. It was also demonstrated that cells infected during the exponential growth phase gave higher viral yields than those infected during the lag or stationary growth phases and the initial viral MOI did not significantly alter viral yields. Finally, it was demonstrated that viral infection of HeLa cells grown in 4-L bioreactor batch cultures resulted in increased death and glucose uptake rates and significantly lower growth rates.