Comparison of microtiter procedures with the plaque technique for assay of vesicular stomatitis virus

This paper describes a microprocedure for the tissue culture assay of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) and compares the sensitivity of the method with the conventional plaque assay of viral concentration. Microtiter and plaque assay methods were used in titrations, neutralization tests, and thermoinactivation studies with this virus in chick embryo fibroblasts (CEF) and L, HeLa, and PK cell lines. Titration experiments with VSV by the microtiter procedure on preformed monolayers were significantly more sensitive than the plaque assay (P = 0.05). The results of the neutralization tests and thermoinactivation studies also showed greater ability to detect residual virus by the microtiter procedure (P = 0.10). In addition, the microtiter procedure was simpler, less costly, and more rapid than the plaque assay.