Infection de cellules endothéliales de foie humain et murin en culture avec le virus vaccinal et le « frog virus 3(FV3)3

Endothelial cells were isolated from human and murine livers by collagenase perfusion and centrifugal elutriation. Cultured endothelial cells retained their ultrastructural characteristics as well as their functional properties such as colloidal carbon uptake and adsorption of opsonized sheep erythrocytes by their Fc receptors. Vaccinia virus and FV3 were found to penetrate the endothelial cells by pinocytosis or fusion; in this last case the outer envelope of the vaccinia virus or the capsid of FV3 became integrated in the plasma membrane of the cell, thus leading to the release of the vaccinia core or the “injection” of the FV3 nucleoprotein into the cytoplasm. Both viruses underwent a complete cycle of multiplication, generating an infectious progeny followed by the total lysis of the endothelial cells.