ON THE NATURE OF THE "LIPOVIRUS"

Experiments designed to elucidate the nature of the "lipovirus" are described. The development of characteristic nuclear lesions in human cells in vitro depended on the presence of an ameboid cell in the inoculum. The spatial separation of the ameboid cells from the human cells by a membrane filter 150 µ in thickness was sufficient to prevent the development of nuclear lesions. Nuclear lesions appeared to be the primary change of the affected human cells. This development of nuclear lesions was partially suppressed by FUDR and the suppression was reversed by thymidine. Time-lapse microcinematography showed that a 30 min intermittent contact between an ameboid cell and a human cell resulted in the retraction of both progenies of the human cell after a lapse of about 36 hr. Other human cells not in contact with the ameboid cell remained polygonal and continued to divide. Radioautography of the ameboid cell revealed the presence in the cytoplasm of thymidine-containing DNAse-sensitive materials. The development of antigens related to the ameboid cell within the cytoplasm of the human cell is described in the accompanying report (4).