[Isolation of the transmissible gastroenteritis virus in a continuous pig embryo kidney cell line]

Abstract

Attempts were made to isolate the virus of transmissive gastroenteritis in a permanent cell line SPEV in view of the diagnostics of the disease. Used were small intestines of pigs during the first 24 hours after the setting in of clinical symptoms. The successful isolation of the virus in a SPEV line depended on the methods employed to handle the material as well as on the ways of inoculating the cell cultures. In the conditions of the investigation most proper proved centrifugation of the organ suspensions and the suspension method of infection. The SPEV line, however, was shown to be insufficiently sensitive to isolate the virus of transmissive gastroenteritis. About 30 per cent only of the positive material could be used to demonstrate the virus following direct infection, while the study of the remaining (up to 62 per cent) material required additional passing. The SPEV line could replicate the virus after its infection with organ suspensions containing the virus, and this could be demonstrated through immunofluorescence investigations. The same method could likewise be employed in the express diagnosing of the disease. The passing of the virus strains in the SPEV line led to their attenuation. In order to retain the virulence of the strains passing should take place in nonimmune pigs or should alternate with the use of both pigs and cell cultures.