The fate of antibiotics added to cell cultures used in virology.

The use of cell cultures has revolutionised virology over the past three decades. Antibiotics have played a key role in this revolution. However, it is curious that there appears to be very little published data on the fate of antibiotics added to cell cultures (as opposed to culture media). The experiments described in this paper were designed to show whether antibiotics added to cell cultures lost potency at a different rate from those added to cell culture media alone. In general, potency was lost more rapidly in the presence of cells but the differences were not such as to suggest enzymic breakdown of the antibiotics, and were only revealed by the more sensitive of the two assay methods used.

The search for antiviral agents among corynebacteria.

Extracts of strains of Corynebacterium diphtheriae var. mitis avirulent, C. hofmannii, C. xerosis, C. parvum and an unidentified Corynebacterium species were tested for antiviral activity against laboratory strains of echovirus type 11, adenovirus type 2 and vaccinia, and a recent isolate of herpes simplex virus. Unlike a previous study, no appreciable antiviral activity was detected in the extracts tested