The effect of chemical inactivation of bovine viral diarrhea virus with beta-propiolactone and binary ethyleneimine on plasma proteins and coagulation factors.

In the present study chemical inactivation of bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV), as a substitute of hepatitis C virus was studied in human plasma pool. Beta-propiolactone (BPL), binary ethyleneimine (BEI) and chlorhexidine (CHX) were assessed. Treatment of virus-spiked human plasma with 0.025% BPL reduced virus infectivity titer to undetectable levels within 2 h, whereas BEI treatment (1 mM) showed a slower kinetic of inactivation, attaining a complete virus inactivation within 8 h of incubation. In contrast, CHX treatment at the adopted dose level (0.41mM) showed a limited virucidal capacity with a residual live virus titer after 24 h. BPL and BEI treatments reduced the recovery of labile plasma coagulation factors activity (V and VIII), while the activity of other coagulation factors (VII, IX and XI) was mildly decreased. Agarose gel electrophoresis of plasma proteins showed that albumin concentration is not affected, while gamma-globulin is slightly reduced by BPL and BEI treatment. Plasma fibrinogen level was modestly reduced by BPL treatment, while it remained unchanged by BEI treatment. This demonstrates the potential and safety use of BPL and BEI in BVDV inactivation in human plasma pool without affecting significantly the coagulant activity of important blood coagulation factors and the levels of plasma major protein fractions.