Phosphonoacetic acid-induced morphological changes of herpesvirus growth in vitro

Thin-section electron microscopy of Herpesvirus hominis type 1 (HV-1)-infected HEp-2 cells exposed to 100 micrograms/ml phosphonoacetic acid (PAA) revealed not only a spatial restriction of virus multiplication to a few spheroid bodies in the nucleus, but also a delay in viral development, resulting in the formation of unusual HV-1 particle rosettes around the spheroid bodies. HV-1-infected cells were lacking, however, the small tubular structures known to accumulate at increased rates in the presence of PAA, in HV-2-infected cells.