Effects of cell differentiation on replication of A/WS/33, WSN, and A/PR/8/34 influenza viruses in mouse brain cell cultures: biological and immunological characterization of products.

The responses of mouse embryo brain (MEB) cell cultures and of Madin-Darby canine kidney cells and chicken embryo fibroblasts to infection with A/PR/8/34 (PR8), A/WS/33 (WS), or the neurovirulent WSN variant were compared in terms of (i) single-cycle yields of hemagglutinating and associated neuraminidase (NA) activities and plaque-forming particles, the latter with or without trypsin activation [PFU(TR++) or PFU(TR--), respectively], and (ii) expression of nucleoprotein (NP), M1, and NS1 protein, determined for specific cell types by immunostaining, for whole culture lysates by Western blot analysis of NP and M1. Primary MEB cultures grown in serum-enriched medium were infected after 6 days (young), when none of the cells reacted specifically and exclusively with any of the nerve cell marker antibodies used, or after greater than or equal to 21 days (aged), when astrocytes (the predominant cell type), neurons, and oligodendrocytes were morphologically and immunologically mature. Secondary astrocyte-enriched cultures were used when they contained 90 to 99% of their cells as astrocytes at an early stage of differentiation. By all criteria, young MEB cultures were only marginally less permissive for each of the three viruses than were chicken embryo fibroblasts or Madin-Darby canine kidney cells. Aged MEB cultures, by comparison, produced undiminished NP, hemagglutinin, and neuraminidase, but yields of PFU(TR++) and expression of M1 protein (relative to NP) were reduced for all three viruses, most for PR8 and least for WSN; relative reduction of NS1 protein was demonstrable only in PR8-infected aged cultures. Immunostaining revealed low levels of M1 and NS1 expression only in astrocytes, not in oligodendrocytes and neurons. In PR8-infected mature astrocytes, NP accumulated in the nucleus; it persisted in some cells for at least 8 weeks after infection. The presence of NP did not seem to interfere with cell division. Secondary MEB cultures containing 90 to 99% immature astrocytes were less restricted than were aged primary cultures. Thus, it appears that reduced permissivity of nerve cell cultures, as measured in this study, is most closely correlated with advancing differentiation and maturity of astroglial cells. Assembled virions, including those that score as PFU(TR++) in restricted cultures (e.g., PR8-infected aged MEB), may be mainly products of mature oligodendrocytes and neurons.