Evaluation of Animal Origin Cell Cultures for In Vitro Cultivation of Noroviruses

Abstract

Noroviruses are a leading cause of acute non-bacterial gastroenteritis throughout the world.So far,in vitro growth of these viruses has not been achieved in human origin cell lines and limited efforts have been made to evaluate the susceptibility of animal origin cell cul- tures.The main objective of this study was to evaluate primary and established cell cultures from a variety of animal species for in vitro growth of human noroviruses.A total of 19 cell cultures from 11 different animal species were evaluated.Cell monolayers were inocu- lated with one of the two fecal samples known to contain noroviruses.The infected cell monolayers were observed daily for up to 5 days for any cytopatho- logical effects (CPE) after which the infected cell suspension was inoculated in their respective fresh cells for a total of five blind passages.At fifth blind pas- sage RT-PCR assay was used to detect the presence of norovirus RNA.None of the blind passage in any cell culture