Cultivation of Poliomyelitis Virus in Tissue Culture

This paper presents observations on the growth of Lansing poliomyelitis virus in fluid cultures of various human embryonic and adult tissues. The evidence suggests that viral multiplication has occurred in cultures of monkey testis, human embryonic kidney, and mixtures of brain and cord. Satisfactory virus growth has been obtained particularly in cultures containing human embryonic brain and cord. Virus is present in tissue culture fluids in which the original inoculum has been diluted 10 −33.3 by subcultivation. Preliminary observations suggest that a synthetic medium (Mixture 199) devised by Morgan, Morton, and Parker is superior to Hanks–Simms solution as a nutritive medium in such cultures. The cytopathogenic effect of the virus, as revealed by pH determinations and cell morphology, has been noted, although a characteristic pH differential between virus infected and control flasks was not commonly observed. Attempts to grow the virus on a larger scale in Kolle flasks are described.