Alteration in Cell Morphology of a Human Neuroblastoma Line Under the Influence of Persistent Viral Infection

Abstract

In recent years studies of changes in functional properties of cultured cells of different origin under the influence of persistent viral infection have been attracting growing interest, especially in the field of neurobiology. Several investigators have managed to establish persistent infection with a variety of different kinds of viruses of cells of different origin and character. Focussing, for example, on specialized cellular functions playing an important role in central nervous intercellular communication, an impairment of a variety of highly specialized cell functions has been reported. Thus synthesis of neuron specific enzymes like cholineacetyltransferase (CAT) or acetylcholineesterase (AChE) has been found to be impaired in persistently cytomegalovirus-infected murine neuroblastoma cells (Oldstone et al. 1977); membrane receptors for neurotransmitters and receptor-dependent membrane functions have been found to be altered under the influence of viruses from the paramyxo (Halbach and Koschel 1979) and rhabdo groups (Koschel and Halbach 1979; Koschel and Münzel 1984), and influence on the functions of ion channel mechanisms (modifying bioelectric membrane potentials) has been attributed to persistent infection with mumps virus in murine pheochromocytoma cells (Ziegler and Stauffer 1987). Although in all cases severe alteration of cellular functional properties could be observed in basal cell functions as reflected by cell morphology, growth rate in culture remained unaffected.