Real Time Cell Analysis for Studying Viral Infection

After viral infection, host cells often display microscopically visible changes collectively referred to as cytopathic effects (CPEs). CPEs are useful for various research applications, from virus titer determination to detecting and quantifying neutralizing antibodies.

Detecting CPEs traditionally requires plaque assays, where infected cells are covered with a semisolid material such as agarose. As infected cells lyse, the agarose prevents progeny virions from freely diffusing, meaning that only neighboring cells are infected. This cycle of infection, lysis, and infection of adjacent cells eventually forms cell-free regions known as plaques, which can be quantified. Plaque assays are labor intensive, and determining what qualifies as a legitimate plaque can be difficult, making achieving high levels of accuracy and reproducibility challenging. Engineered viruses expressing fluorescent proteins can make it easier to identify infection sites, but this is not always possible since it involves manipulating the viral genome.

Download this handbook from ACEA Biosciences, now a part of Agilent Technologies, to learn how laboratories are using real-time cell analysis (RTCA) for virology applications as a more efficient and higher-throughput alternative to traditional CPE assays.