[Persistence of hepatitis C virus in newborn mice brain cell culture]

A model of chronic infection of primary cultures of suckling mouse brain (SMB) cells actively producing hepatitis C virus (HCV) is developed. Destruction and repopulation of cells was observed for at least 6 months; this phenomenon was paralleled by virus release in culture medium. Persistent HCV contained in SMB cultures induced a cytopathogenic effect in PS, BHK-21, Vero, HAK, and click embryo cell cultures, its infective titers being 10.0-12.0 lg TCD50/0.2 ml. Persistent HCV formed heterogeneous plaques under agar in chick embryo cells. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) regularly detected the HCV RNA at the stage of cell destruction in the culture fluid of HCV-infected cell cultures. The cytopathogenic activity of persistent HCV was neutralized by anti-HCV positive patients' sera with the neutralization index of 8.0-9.0 lg. The results of persistent HCV neutralization were confirmed by PCR. Immunofluorescence detected virus-specific HCV antigens in 15-40% of infected cells. Hence, the SMB-HCV system realized the cytopathogenic potential of HCV circulating in the blood of patients with hepatitis C. This system is promising for the study of the pathogenesis of HCV infection at a cellular level, for screening for specific and nonspecific antiviral agents, and for preparing native virus-specific proteins and RNA.