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Production of the mouse mammary tumor virus in cultures of BALB/cfC3H strain
Author(s) -
Lasfargues Etienne Y.,
Lasfargues Jennie C.
Publication year - 1975
Publication title -
biotechnology and bioengineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.136
H-Index - 189
eISSN - 1097-0290
pISSN - 0006-3592
DOI - 10.1002/bit.260170509
Subject(s) - virus , biology , mammary tumor , budding , immunofluorescence , cell culture , centrifugation , tissue culture , microbiology and biotechnology , mouse mammary tumor virus , rickettsia , strain (injury) , virology , antibody , in vitro , immunology , biochemistry , anatomy , cancer , breast cancer , genetics
The mouse mammary tumor virus (MTV) reproduces by a budding mechanism at the cell membrane of mouse mammary epithelial cells. In tissue culture, the tumor cells release their virions in the culture supernatant from which they can be removed by high speed centrifugation. Mammary tumor cells from the RIII, GR, and A strains of mice generally produce yields of virus which decrease after a few months. Cells derived from a spontaneous mammary tumor in a BALB/cfC3H mouse have shown the capability to shed relatively large amounts of virus continuously. A quantitative estimation by membrane immunofluorescence of the number of virus producing cells in one‐year‐old cultures revealed the presence of viral antigen on 80 to 90% of the cells; by comparison, cultures from other mouse strains had a ratio of only 10 to 15% virus producing cells. High speed centrifugation pellets obtained from 50 ml culture supernatant provided large amounts of mature virus particles which have been characterized by electron microscopy.