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. 2008 May 12;17(4):299–308. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2990.1991.tb00727.x

Multiplication of rubella and measles viruses in primary rat neural cell cultures: relevance to a postulated triggering mechanism for multiple sclerosis

G J ATKINS 1,✉, D A MOONEY 1, D A FAHY 1, S H NG 1, B J SHEAHAN 2
PMCID: PMC7194296  PMID: 1719441

Abstract

Rubella virus multiplied to low titre and produced a partial cytopathic effect in rat glial cell cultures. Anti‐galactocerebroside staining showed that this cytopathic effect involved the disintegration of oligodendrocytes. A similar effect was produced following infection of myelinating neural cell cultures with rubella virus, but virus multiplication could not be detected in pure neuron cultures. Measles virus was found to multiply and produce a cytopathic effect in primary cultures of both neurons and glial cells. These results are discussed in relation to the ability of measles and rubella viruses to trigger human multiple sclerosis.

Keywords: rubella virus, measles virus, neural cell culture, multiple sclerosis

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