Introduction:

Dengue virus replication has been considered mainly cytoplasmic, however, studies indicate that some flaviviruses may use the intranuclear pathway as part of the machinery that the virus uses to increase infection capacity in the host cell. This paper describes alterations at nuclear level in the cell infected with dengue, which are likely involved in the virus replication processes.

Objective:

This paper addresses the ultrastructural observations of C6/36 cells of the Aedes albopictus mosquito infected with dengue virus type 2.

Materials and methods:

C6/36 cells were infected in culture medium with the serum of a patient positively diagnosed for dengue 2. Subsequently, the cells were incubated for 10 days and the cytopathic effect was assessed. The cells were processed for immunofluorescence assays and transmission electron microscopy.

Results:

The immunofluorescence assays confirmed the presence of viral protein E associated with cellular syncytia in the culture. In the ultrastructural study, the infected cells showed vesicular-tubular structures and dilated cisterns of the endoplasmic reticulum at the cytoplasmic level. Viral particles were found exclusively in cytoplasm localized within the vacuoles. Nuclei of cellular syncytia showed membrane structures arranged in a circular shape and, in some cases, these syncytia displayed lysis; in no case viral particles were observed at the nuclear level.

Conclusions:

The ultrastructural alterations of nuclei in cells infected with the dengue virus using electron microscopy techniques had not been reported before, as far as we know. It is likely that such modifications are associated with replicative processes at an intranuclear level as an alternate replication mechanism.

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