ANNULATE LAMELLAE AND LYTIC HAV INFECTION IN-VITRO

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between viral in fection and annulate lamellae (AL) production by using quantitative an d qualitative electron microscopy to document the size and numbers of AL in BS-C-1 cells infected with a lytic strain of hepatitis A virus ( HAV), The progress of the HAV infection was found to occur in two phas es, In phase 1, cell proliferation and cell death were roughly the sam e as that of the mock infected control, but there was an increase with time in the amount of hepatitis A antigen in the infected cells, In p hase 2 cell division was minimal and cell death became manifest, AL we re detected in both infected and control cells, Quantitative analysis indicated that the average number of AL was greater in infected cells compared to that in control cells in phase 1; in infected cells there were greater numbers of AL in phase 1 than in phase 2; the average num ber of membraneous leaves/AL was greater in infected cells than in con trol cells, Quantitative analysis also indicated that AL were very rar e, with only about three AL per entire control cell and eight AL per e ntire infected cell, The study clearly establishes that viral infectio n can stimulate AL production. The data suggest stimulation of AL prod uction in the virus infected cells was linked to the synthesis of vira l antigen, Ultrastructural observations indicated that AL could be der ived from either the rough endoplasmic reticulum or the nuclear membra ne.