METHODS OF CULTIVATION OF VIRUSES-converted DR Wankar

Unit VI- Semester I
By-
Dr. Mrs. Supriya Wankar
As viruses are intracellular obligatory parasites, they always need living
cells for their growth. They cannot be grown on any artificial media.
There are three methods employed for the cultivation of animal viruses
1. Animal inoculation
2. Embryonated eggs or chick embryo method.
3. Tissue culture or cell culture.
1. Animal Inoculation – Susceptible experimental animals like Mice,
Monkey, Rabbits, Guinea Pigs etc. are used for the cultivation of viruses.
Virus sample to be cultivated should injected into the experimental
animal. It is important to select specific host animal for particular
viruses. Route of inoculation of viral sample in the host cell also play
important role in cultivation of viruses. Other factors such as age and
immunity of host animal also affect the growth of viruses in the host.
Eg. Mice are the most widely employed animals in virology. It can be
inoculated by routes like intracerebral, subcutaneous, intraperitoneal or
intranasal. The growth of the virus in inoculated animals may be
indicated by death, disease or visible lesion. Disadvantages of animal
inoculation are that immunity may interfere with viral growth.
2. Embryonate Eggs or Chick embryo method
Good pasture (1931) was the first who used hen’s

embryonated egg for the cultivation of viruses.
Embryonated egg provides several sites for the cultivation
of viruses. Viz 1. Chorio- allantoic membrane 2. Allantoic
cavity 3. Amniotic cavity 4. Yolk sac 5. Embryo
Different site is used for growth of different viruses. Eg.

Chorio-allantoic membrance is used for the cultivation of pox
virus. Allantoic cavity is employed for the Influenza virus.
There are several advantages, chick embryos are packed in
their shells and have natural resistant against bacterial
contamination. Chick embryo method is cheaper and easy to
handle.
Fig :Chick embryo method for cultivation of animal
viruses.
3. Tissue Culture
Steinhardt and colleagues (1913), was the first who used bits of tissue
or organ for the cultivation of viruses. Now advance techniques are
develop in Tissue culture.
Three types of tissue cultures are available.
1. Organ culture:- Small bits of organs are used for the cultivation of
virus.
2. Explants culture:- Fragments of minced tissue can be grown as
‘explants’ embedded in plasma clots.
3. Cell culture:- This is most common method for viral cultivation and
growth of viruses. Different types of cell cultures are used for different
viruses. General method is as follows :-
1. Tissue like Monkey Kidney, Rabbit Kidney is taken and treated with
proteolytic enzymes such as Trypsin and by mechanical shaking, tissues
are dissociated into the component cells. Trypsin, the protecolytic
enzyme digest the binding material that binds the cells together in a
tissue and results into free cells. He La cells (i.e. human cells from
cervical cancer region) are also commonly used cell system for the
2. After treatment with trypsin, cells are washed, counted and
suspended in the growth medium.
3. Growth medium constitutes all those essential elements
required for the growth of cell viz. essential amino acids,
vitamins, salts, glucose, bicarbonates (buffer) with
atmosphere containing 5% CO2 and supplemented with 5%
calf serum.
4. Antibiotics are added into the growth medium to prevent
bacterial contaminants. Some indicators like phenol red,
neutral red etc. are added into the growth medium, Change in
indicator colour in growth medium, indicates the growth of
virus in cell culture.
In such growth medium cells divides and multiply. Then these
cells are dispensed in bottle or petri plates. On incubation, cells
divides to form a confluent monolayer sheet of cells occur within
a week. Various types of cell cultures used for virus cultivation
are-
1. Primary cell culture 2. Diploid cell strains 3. Continuous cell lines.
1. Primary cell culture:- Derived form normal cells (eg. Monkey kidney
tissue). The fresh monolayer of the cell is referred as Primary culture.
They are capable of only limited growth in culture and cannot e
maintained in serial culture. Primary cell cultures are used during
cultivation of viruses for vaccine production.
2. Diploid cell strains:- These are cells of a single type that retain the
original diploid chromosome number and karyotype (appearance of two
sets of chromosome) during serial sub cultivation for a limited number
of times. They are also employed for the production of viral vaccine.
3. Continuous cell lines:- These are the cells of single type, usually
derived from cancer cells, that are capable of continuous serial
cultivation indefinitely. Eg. Human cancer cells Viz. He La, Hep – 2 and
KB lines have been used for many years. These cell lines are stored in
the cold (-700c) for use when necessary. The karyotype of these cells is
aneuploid (a variable multiple of the haploid chromosome
number.)Continuous cell lines are now widely useful in cultivating many
types of viruses.
Plaques formation indicates cultivation of
viruses on cell culture
DETECTION OF VIRAL GROWTH
Viral growth in cell culture can be detected by the following methods

a. Cytopathic effect (CPE)
Due to the viral growth, morphology of cultured cell change, these changes can be
readily observed under microscope. These morphological changers in cell culture is
called Cytopathic effect (CPE) and viruses causing CPE are called cytopathogenic
virus.’ Eg. Adeno virus cause large granular clumps in cell culture.
b. Fluorescence Antibody Technique (FAT):- In this technique, cell from virus

infected cultures can be stained by fluorescent conjugated antigen. Fluorescent dye such
as fluorescein isothioacynate and rhodamine are generally used to tag with antibodies.
FAT is very useful in testing for rabies virus in clinical specimen within few hours with
100% accuracy.
c. Haemagglutination :- Haemagglutination is the phenomenon of clumping of RBCs.

Viruses such as mumps, measals and influenza can able to agglutinate the RBCs. their
presence can be indicated by addition of guinea pig erythrocytes to the culture. If the
viruses are cultivated in the cell culture, the erythrocytes will adsorb onto the cell
surface also called ‘haemadsorption.’
Cytopathic effect (CPE) and FAT
Heamagglutination method for virus detection
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Unit VI- Semester I

Good pasture (1931) was the first who used hen’s

Different site is used for growth of different viruses. Eg.

Viral growth in cell culture can be detected by the following methods

b. Fluorescence Antibody Technique (FAT):- In this technique, cell from virus

c. Haemagglutination :- Haemagglutination is the phenomenon of clumping of RBCs.

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