Increase in lipid fluidity of cellular membranes induced by adsorption of RNA and DNA virions.

Changes in the dynamic behavior of membrane lipids of mammalian cells induced by adsorption of animal viruses were quantitatively monitored by fluorescence polarization analysis with the aid of the fluorescent probe 1,6-diphenyl 1,3,5-hexatriene embedded in the surface membrane lipid core of intact cells. Adsorption of encephalomyocarditis, West Nile, and polyoma viruses to hamster (baby hamster kidney) and mouse (3T3) cells is accompanied by a rapid and significant increase in the degree of fluidity of membrane lipids of the infected cells. These changes in membrane fluidity, which are virus dose dependent, are inhibited by low temperature and by treatment of the cells before-hand with compounds known to block viral receptors on the cell surface. It is suggested that increase in membrane lipid fluidity, induced by the adsorption of virions, is an early event in the process of cell-virus interactions.