Cell Culture From a Rat Brain Tumor Induced by Intracerebral Inoculation With Murine Sarcoma Virus

Summary

A cell culture line of possible glial cell origin was established from a brain tumor induced in the rat by murine sarcoma virus (MSV)-Moloney (congenitally or vertically transmitted). The cultured cells, globose or pear-shaped with protoplasmic processes and highly refractile membranes, were transplantable successively in suckling rats by intracerebral, subcutaneous, or intramuscular injection. Young rats bearing the transplanted subcutaneous tumor showed metastases to lungs, liver, spleen, kidneys, regional lymph nodes, and thymus. Cell-free extracts of cultured cells induced brain tumors or sarcomas in newborn rats and mice. The results of focus formation by supernatants of cell culture and electron microscopic findings of extracellular and intercellular viral particles also indicated that cultured glial cells produced infectious MSV.