Studies of Relationship Between Mouse Cytomegalovirus and Interferon. ∗

Summary

The relationship between mouse cytomegalovirus and interferon was studied. MCMV was found to be relatively unresponsive to exogenous interferon in vitro, and attempts to alter the course of either acute or chronic MCMV infection with either exogenous or endogenous interferon in vivo were unsuccessful. Interferon was not detected in cell cultures infected with MCMV, in the livers of infected suckling and weanling mice, nor in the salivary glands of weanling mice at various stages of infection. During acute MCMV infection of mice there was marked inhibition of the capacity to produce circulating interferon in response to intravenous injection of NDV. This inhibitory effect of MCMV was independent of disease manifestations and the age of the infected animal.