Susceptibility of a new fetal pig kidney cell line (MVPK-1) to foot-and-mouth disease virus.

The Mengeling-Vaughn Porcine Kidney (MVPK-1) cell line, derived in October, 1970, from fetal pig kidneys, is susceptible to all 7 types of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) virus. A plaque assay was developed for FMD virus that depended on washing MVPK-1 cells in serum-free medium before infection and excluding serum from 0.6% gum tragacanth overlay during plaque formation. The numbers of plaques that formed on MVPK-1 cells by a representative strain of each FMD type were comparable with the numbers of those on primary bovine calf kidney (BK) cells. Virus passaged in BK cell cultures did not have to be adapted to the cell line to obtain these results. The cell line lost susceptibility rapidly at 37 C after confluency was reached but retained susceptibility if maintained at room temperature. The cell line has the potential of replacing BK cells for many diverse purposes.