The effect of sodium thiocyanate on virus structure.

A study of two different virus types after elution from immunosorbent columns by sodium thiocyanate has shown that virus degradation occurs. The two virus types studied were hepatitis B and rotavirus. Hepatitis B antigen (HBAg) was only slowly degraded and retained many of its morphological features, although in an altered form; rotavirus was highly sensitive to the chaotropic agent, losing both its viability and its morphological integrity. During the process of disassembly a previously undetected inner component of rotavirus could be visualised, which was termed the "core."