Buoyant density of hepatitis C virus recovered from infected hosts: Two different features in sucrose equilibrium density-gradient centrifugation related to degree of liver inflammation
✍ Scribed by Tatsuya Kanto; Norio Hayashi; Tetsuo Takehara; Hideki Hagiwara; Eiji Mita; Masafumi Naito; Akinori Kasahara; Hideyuki Fusamoto; Takenobu Kamada
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1994
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 715 KB
- Volume
- 19
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0270-9139
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Hepatitis C virus is reported to have a low buoyant density in sucrose. To determine the density of hepatitis C virus in the circulation of infected hosts and its association with the degree of liver inflammation, we examined serum samples from 10 patients who were positive for both hepatitis C virus antibody ((2100 antigen) antibody and serum hepatitis C virus RNA. After the serum was ultracentrifuged in sucrose density gradient (10% to 60%), the hepatitis C virus RNA titer in each collected fraction was quantified by means of competitive reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. In samples from five blood donors, the hepatitis C virus RNA titer had a single peak at fractions with densities of 1.08 to 1.1 1 gm/ml. In samples from five patients with ALT abnormalities, the titer had two peaks at fractions with 1.09 to 1.10 gm/ml and 1.22 to 1.25 gm/ml. After the selected samples were treated with detergents and ultracentrifuged, the titer in the 1.08 to 1.11 g m / d fractions decreased and that in the 1.22 to 1.25 g m fractions increased. This result implied that the hepatitis C virus density changed with removal of the viral envelope by lipid solvents. Thus the buoyant density of hepatitis C virus in sucrose was 1.08 to 1.11 gmlml for an intact virion and 1.22 to 1.25 gm/ml for what was presumed to be a nucleocapsid.