To demonstrate the potential of McCoy cells for the isolation of rabies
virus from the cerebrospinal (CSF) fluid of a patient with a diagnosis of
rabies, McCoy cells were inoculated with CSF from a patient with a clinical
diagnosis of rabies and investigated in terms of morphometric aspect using
the JAVA analysis system for the quantification of the increased size of
infected cells compared to noninfected cells. The cells were also examined
in terms of specific staining for the diagnosis of rabies by the method of
Sellers for the observation of intracytoplasmic inclusions and by specific
immunofluorescence staining for rabies virus.
Infected cells showed changes in cell permeability and morphologic
modifications which differed significantly compared to normal cells
(P{0.001) when analyzed by the Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests.
Intense activity of the endoplasmic reticulum was also observed, as
indicated by the presence of intracytoplasmic inclusions visualized by
specific staining.
The present study demonstrated the isolation of rabies virus from the CSF
of a patient with rabies, showing that McCoy cells can be used for the
laboratory diagnosis of patients suspected to have rabies.
