The QS
- and QS
+ strains of Japanese encephalitis (JE) virus were examined for characteristics on primary quail embryo cell cultures. The following results were obtained.
1) The attenuated QS
- strain showed a higher titer when incubated at 30°C than when incubated at either of two temperatures, 37 and 40°C. There was, however, no distinct difference in titer of the QS
+ strain among these three temperatures of incubation.
2) The QS
- strain was much less pathogenic than the QS
+ strain both for suckling mice by the subcutaneous route and for adult mice by the intracerebral route.
3) A high infectivity and ability to cause hemagglutination were found infractions of each strain with a buoyant density of 1.25-1.26g/ml. The plaque was 4 and 1mm in diameter with the QS
+ and QS
- strain, respectively.
These results indicate that the QS
- strain has satisfactory characteristics of attenuated JE virus. The hemagglutinating activity of the QS
+ strain was maintained or enhanced about two times by addition of Tween 80 to a final concentration of 1w/v%, while that of the QS
- strain decreased markedly or was lost. The sensitivity to Tween 80 presented a good parallelism with other characteristics of the attenuated strain so far as the two strains examined are concerned.
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