Photochemical inhibition of poliovirus replication by 4,5',8-trimethylpsoralen plus light.

Poliovirus replication in HeLa cells is significantly inhibited by a 30-min pulse of infected cells with 4,5',8-trimethylpsoralen plus long wavelength ultraviolet light. When infected cells are exposed to psoralen plus light during peak viral RNA synthesis, formation of virus-specific RNAs is inhibited. Viral RNA species, formed in vivo in the presence of, or treated in vitro with, psoralen plus light, appear to have become degraded when analyzed by sedimentation in sucrose-dimethyl sulfoxide gradients. Treatment with psoralen plus light in vitro results in the loss of infectivity of single-stranded viral RNA.