THE USE OF IMMONUGOLD SILVER STAINING IN BLUETONGUE VIRUS ADSORPTION AND NEUTRALIZATION STUDIES

The immune-gold-silver staining (IGSS) technique was used in scanning electron microscopy for the detection and semi-quantitation of low cop y antigens on the surface of cells. The methodology was exploited in e xperiments designed to examine the interaction of small numbers of vir us particles with the surface of susceptible host cells. Using blueton gue virus (BTV) as an example, IGSS procedures confirmed that maximum adsorption occurred within 60 min and that adsorbed virus particles we re distributed randomly on the surface of the cell. Neutralising antib ody did not prevent binding of BTV to the plasma membrane, but abrogat ed virus uptake. The use of IGSS in the study of virus-cell interactio ns was validated by transmission electron microscopy and classical bio chemical experiments utilising radioactively-labelled virus.