Plaquing of Herpes Simplex Viruses

Lauren A. Sadowski; Gregory M. Lesko; Chad Suissa; Rista Upadhyay; Prashant J. Desai; Barry J. Margulies

doi:10.3791/62962

JoVE Journal
Immunology and Infection

A subscription to JoVE is required to view this content. Sign in or start your free trial.

JoVE Journal Immunology and Infection

Plaquing of Herpes Simplex Viruses

Full Text

7,225 Views

04:41 min

November 5, 2021

DOI: 10.3791/62962-v

Lauren A. Sadowski*¹, Gregory M. Lesko*¹, Chad Suissa*¹, Rista Upadhyay*^1,2, Prashant J. Desai³, Barry J. Margulies^1,4

¹Towson University Herpes Virus Lab, Department of Biological Sciences,Towson University, ²Towson University Department of Chemistry,Towson University, ³Department of Oncology,Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, ⁴Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, and Bioinformatics Program,Towson University

Plaquing is a routine method used to quantify live viruses in a population. Though plaquing is frequently taught in various microbiology curricula with bacteria and bacteriophages, plaquing of mammalian viruses is more complex and time-consuming. This protocol describes the procedures that function reliably for regular work with herpes simplex viruses.

The protocol helps the students identify individual infections clearly and perform the assay easily, making it more efficient to quantify viral titer. This protocol incorporates a simple fixation and staining procedure that produces reliable and reproducible results. This method can provide insight into the accuracy and effectiveness of antiviral treatments against diseases.

The more difficult hurdles of this plaquing protocol are the cell counts for seeding plates, making sure that the cells do not overcrowd, dry out, or get scratched throughout the process. One may also find difficulty in the overall meticulous nature of this protocol. However, practice is a major contributor of the success of this experiment.

View the full transcript and gain access to thousands of scientific videos