Intracellular localization of type 4 adenovirus. II. Cytological and fluorescein-labelled antibody studies.

HeLa cell cultures infected with adenovirus type 4 were studied by light and phase-contrast microscopy and by the fluorescent antibody technique for visualization of intracellular antigen. The findings were correlated with the growth curve of infectious virus, determined from companion cultures. The results indicated that those cells undergoing characteristic structural changes observable by light microscopy were those which contain viral antigen. The distribution of the majority of the antigen within the infected cells corresponded to that of the regularly aligned granules and crystal-like masses seen in the nuclei of cells in stained and in unfixed cultures. The production of infectious virus was closely correlated with the development of the characteristic nuclear changes.