Effect of polyionic compounds on the adsorption of polyoma virus

The inhibitory effect of polyionic compounds, including dextran sulfates and poly-L-lysines of various molecular weight, on the cytopathogenicity of polyoma virus was studied. Poly-L-lysines were found to be more potent inhibitors of polyoma virus than dextran sulfates in UC1B cells. The 50% effective concentrations (EC50) were found to be inversely related to the molecular weight of the polymers. The higher the molecular weight of poly-L-lysine, the more effective was the polymer in inhibiting virus-induced cytopathogenicity. Incubation of the cells with poly-L-lysines was found to increase the zeta potential of the cells, whereas no significant change of the electrokinetic behavior was observed for dextran sulfate-treated cells, indicating that poly-L-lysines were adsorbed to the cells and prevented virus adsorption through steric hindrance effect. Studies using 3H-labeled virions confirmed that poly-L-lysines inhibit virus adsorption to the host cells. The results obtained from this study indicated that poly-L-lysines bind preferentially to UC1B cells through electrostatic interactions, whereas dextran sulfates are not effective inhibitors of polyoma virus.