The susceptibility of the C6 rat glioma cell line (ATCC; CCL-107) to rabies
virus was characterized. The kinetics of infection performed with a fixed
and a wild strain (from an infected cow) of rabies virus was monitored by d
irect immunofluorescence. Fluorescent cytoplasmic bodies were readily obser
ved by UV microscopy from 24 hours post-infection (hpi) onwards. The abilit
y of C6 to produce rabies infective virion particles was confirmed by deter
mining the viral titres present in the supernatants of infected cultures, b
y both BHK-21 cell infection and mice inoculation. C6 cells produced simila
r viral titres to those produced by BHK-21 for both strains used. In additi
on, the yield of rabies glycoprotein was assessed by ELISA. In general, BHK
-21 and C6 cells infected either by PV or with the wild rabies strain produ
ced similar amounts of rabies glycoprotein. At 96 hpi, however, when the gl
ycoprotein production peaked, BHK-21 infected with the wild strain produced
significantly higher amounts of glycoprotein than C6. Subsequently, the op
timal conditions for isolation of wild rabies virus strains from C6 cells w
ere established and these proved to be as sensitive as NA cells in detectin
g 10 wild rabies samples. Due to the high sensitivity exhibited, C6 rat gli
oma cells present a new and useful system for rabies virus investigation. (
C) 2001 The International Association for Biologicals.