INFECTION OF CULTURED HUMAN INTESTINAL-CELLS BY MONKEY RRV AND HUMAN WA ROTAVIRUS AS A FUNCTION OF INTESTINAL EPITHELIAL-CELL DIFFERENTIATION

Rotaviruses display in vivo a specific tropism for enterocytes of the small intestine. We examined here the infection of cultured human inte stinal epithelial Caco-2 cells by rhesus monkey rotavirus (RRV) and hu man Wa rotavirus. The maximal infection of these cells was obtained wh en trypsin was present both in the viral inoculum before adsorption to the cells and in the culture medium during the course of cell infecti on. Since the differentiation process of Caco-2 cells in culture close ly mimics in vivo differentiation of enterocytes along the crypt-villu s axis, cell infection by RRV and Wa rotavirus was examined as a funct ion of cell differentiation. We showed that RRV and Wa rotavirus can i nfect equally well both undifferentiated and differentiated Caco-2 cel ls.