ABSTRACT
Nowadays, Brazil may be considered an endemic area for HTLV-I infection. Several studies showed a high incidence of HTLV-I infection among the general population and different groups such as blood donors, hemophiliacs, hematological and neurological patients. Cases of adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma as well as tropical spastic paraparesis/HTLV-I associated myelopathy have been already described. Therefore the use of different technical approaches, to characterize Brazilian HTLV strains has become important. HTLV particles were characterized and recognized by the use of transmission electron microscopy in lymphocyte cocultures. The ultra-structural analysis revealed typical virus particles close to the lymphocyte membrane. The immunoelectron microscopy allowed the identification of the virus as HTLV, a type C oncovirus, group HTLV-BLV. The ethanol phosphotungstic acid technique showed structures similar to the virus budding process and the routine preparations have contributed to the analysis of the first virus-cell interaction events. Structures related to the endocytic route HTLV entrance are also pointed out.
Subject(s)
Humans , Human T-lymphotropic virus 1/ultrastructure , Brazil , Histocytochemistry , Microscopy, Electron , Microscopy, ImmunoelectronABSTRACT
Vesículas com vários diâmetros variando entre 0.06 e 0.6 micronm e localizadas em torno do núcleo, bem como na proçäo mais periférica, foram observadas no electrócito do peixe elétrico Electrophorus electricus. Tais vesículas foram consideradas como componentes de retículo endoplasmático do eletrócito uma vez que observaçöes citoquímicas demonstraram a presença de glicose-6-fosfatase na membrana dessas vesículas. Esta idéia é reforçada por resultados obtidos com o uso da técnica do pirantiminiato de potássio e análise espectroscópica de elétrons, que mostrou a presença da Ca++ na membrana das vesiculas