ULTRASTRUCTURAL ASPECTS OF CYTOMEGALOVIRUS-INFECTED FIBROBLASTIC STROMAL CELLS OF HUMAN BONE-MARROW

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) and bone marrow interactions are importan t in the pathogenesis of HCMV infections. Human bone marrow fibroblast ic stromal cells (HBFM-sc) were infected by Towne strain of cytomegalo virus (CMV) in cell culture. Several cytostructural features of contro l bone marrow stromal cells are described and compared with those of C MV-infected cells. Under these experimental conditions, HBFM-sc are ce ll types that can be successfully infected by CMV in vitro. The CMV-in fected cells displayed typical features characteristic of DNA virus in fections, such as cellular swelling, intranuclear inclusions, nucleola r condensation and disappearance (at the end stage), nuclear envelope proliferation as redundant folds, Other characteristics of CVM-infecte d cells include mitochondrial enlargement and vacuolization, cytoplasm ic dense bodies associated or not with viral particles, accumulation a nd extrusion of viral particles and dense bodies. These preliminary ob servations shed some right on human bone-marrow stromal-cell morpholog y and function, one of the latter being that of a potentially harmful reservoir for CMV virus.