Plaque identification of strand-forming canine distemper virus by staphylococcal protein A-mediated reverse passive...

The R252 neurotropic isolate of canine distemper virus (CDV) produces cytopathic effects (CPE) dominated by strand formation rather than by the formation of multinucleate giant cells. The lack of well-defined CPE and consequent rapid spread of infection throughout the cell monolayer has hindered plaque purification of this virus by conventional methods. However, the use of an immunological detection system which utilizes binding of hyperimmune dog serum to virus-infected cells, followed by the identification of those sites by staphylococcal Protein A-coupled sheep red blood cells (reverse passive haemadsorption) allowed infected foci in cell monolayers to be detected as early as 4 days after infection, coincident with the appearance of the first immunofluorescently identified viral foci. Foci of haemadsorption were specific to sites of CDV infection as demonstrated by blocking experiments. Material recovered from the plaques was successful in infecting Vero cells. Thus, immunologically mediated adsorption of Protein A coupled red blood cells can be used to identify and isolate foci of viral infection which exhibit minimal or no viral CPE without destroying viral replicative ability.