Study on dengue virus infection of human endothelial cells

The replication of dengue-2 virus in cultured human endothelial cells derived from humanumbilical veins was demonstrated. The viruses were detected in the supernatant as early as 12 h after infection by microplaque forming assay on C6/36 monolayer cells. The highest viral titers were obtained at 48h, then rapidly declined to very low titers at 96h. Dengue-2 virus antigenpositive human endothelial cell were demonstrated by an indirect immunofluorescent assay. No obvious differences in morphology and structure were observed between the virus infected cells and uninfected cells under phase-contrast microscope and transmission electron microscope. Viral production of infeted cells was depended on the multiplicity of infection (MOI). As the viral dose was increased from MOI of 0.1 PFU/cell to 100 PFU/cell, significant increase of viral production was observed.