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Updated: May 12, 2026

Tandem High-pressure Freezing and Quick Freeze Substitution of Plant Tissues for Transmission Electron Microscopy
Published on: October 13, 2014
High pressure treatment under subfreezing temperature results in drastic inactivation of enveloped and non-enveloped
T Kishida1, F-D Cui, E Ohgitani
1Department of Immunology, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Kamikyo, Kyoto, 602-8566, Japan. tsunao@koto.kpu-m.ac.jp
Abstract:
Some viruses are sensitive to high pressure. The freeze-pressure generation method (FPGM) applies pressure as high as 250 MPa on a substance, simply by freezing a pressure-resistant reservoir in which the substance is immersed in water. Here we examined whether the FPGM successfully inactivates herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1), an enveloped DNA virus belonging to the human Herpesviridae, and encephalomyocarditis virus (EMCV), an envelope-free RNA virus belonging to the Picornaviridae. After the treatment, HSV-1 drastically reduced the ability to form plaque in Vero cells in vitro as well as to kill mice in vivo. EMCV that had been pressurized failed to proliferate in HeLa cells and induce interferon response. The results suggest that the FPGM provides a feasible procedure to inactivate a broad spectrum of viruses.
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