%0 Journal Article %A Brautigam, Alan R. %A Dutko, Frank J. %A Olding, Lars B. %A Oldstone, Michael B. A. %T Pathogenesis of Murine Cytomegalovirus Infection: the Macrophage as a Permissive Cell for Cytomegalovirus Infection, Replication and Latency %D 1979 %J Journal of General Virology, %V 44 %N 2 %P 349-359 %@ 1465-2099 %R https://doi.org/10.1099/0022-1317-44-2-349 %I Microbiology Society, %X SUMMARY Macrophages harvested from the peritoneal cavities of mice of several strains were permissive to infection with murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV). Macrophages from six mouse strains released equivalent amounts of plaque-forming virus into the culture fluids and cells from three mouse strains scored similarly in numbers of infectious centres. Twenty to 50% of the infected macrophages obtained after thioglycollate activation formed infectious centres. When studied by in situ hybridization, more than 82% of infected macrophages (with or without thioglycollate activation) contained MCMV DNA. Macrophages obtained from latently infected mice were examined for their content of MCMV. Using co-cultivation assays, MCMV was frequently recovered from thioglycollate activated macrophages harvested from latently infected mice but only rarely recovered from non-activated macrophages. MCMV DNA-mouse DNA hybridization assays revealed four to seven virus genome DNA copies per 100 cells. These studies indicate that macrophages harvested from mice susceptible (BALB/cSt) or resistant (C3H) to MCMV infection replicated virus equivalently and that macrophages are a reservoir of MCMV during latent and chronic infections. Activation of macrophages may be one of the important steps leading to the exacerbation of in vivo latent infections. %U https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/jgv/10.1099/0022-1317-44-2-349