Electron Microscopic Studies of Experimental Viral Hepatitis in Mice I. Virus Particles and Their Relationship to Hepatocytes and

The livers of mice infected with mouse hepatitis virus (MHV-PRI) were observed with light and electron microscopes. Until 64 hours after inoculation, no virus particles were detectable in the samples, but at 72 hours many virus particles appeared. They were most numerous within the perisinusoidal spaces. In the cytoplasm of some hepatocytes, virus particles were in the process of budding from the cytoplasm into intracytoplasmic cisternae. In the Kupffer cells, on the other hand, the virus particles were found in large vacuoles con-taining altered cytoplasmic organelles, which were believed to be phagosomes, and budding was never seen in these cells. It seems likely that the virus multiplied in the hepatocytes and, after being released into the perisinusoidal spaces, was phagocytosed by Kupffer cells