Differential susceptibility of a rat glioma cell line and its clones to herpes simplex virus types 1 and 2.

A rat glioma cell line, C6-BU-1, showed differential susceptibility to herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) and type 2 (HSV-2), namely, all the HSV-1 strains tested so far persisted in this cell line but the HSV-2 strains did not. Two clones were derived from C6-BU-1 cells and designated C-17 and C-72. The C-72 as well as the parental C6-BU-1 cells supported the replication of HSV-1, but not that of HSV-2. In contrast, C-17 was highly resistant to both HSV-1 and HSV-2. Hydrocortisone treatment converted C-17 to being susceptible to HSV-1, but not to HSV-2. Therefore, C6-BU-1 cells consist of subpopulations heterogeneous in susceptibility to HSV-1 which may be possibly interchangeable.