Inborn resistance of mice to mouse hepatitis virus type 3 (MHV3): liver parenchymal cells express phenotype in culture.

Abstract

Primary monolayer cultures of hepatocytes isolated from adult resistant A/J or partially resistant A/Sn or C3H/HeJ mice exhibited resistance to MHV3 as the respective macrophages do: Compared to susceptible C57BL/6 hepatocyte cultures, cytopathic effect occurred later and was restricted to small foci, coinciding with areas specifically labelled by immunofluorescence. Production of infectious particles was delayed, titers being 100 to 1000 fold lower at the moment of maximal yields in susceptible cultures. Pretreatment with interferon could reduce the titers in susceptible cultures to a level as seen in resistant cultures not treated with interferon. Nevertheless, interferon was not responsible for the genetic resistance of hepatocytes: it reduced virus titers in susceptible and resistant cultures to the same extent and the addition of specific antibodies to interferon after infection did not augment susceptibility of resistant cultures. We assume that intrinsic resistance of liver parenchymal cells is an important facet of inborn resistance of mice in vivo.