[Electron microscopy study of deoxyribonuclease penetration into chick embryo fibroblasts and the effect of the enzyme on the cells].

Peroxidase labeled DNase (0.25 g/ml) penetrated into the chick fibroblast culture cells by means of pinocytosis to be localized in pinocytotic vacuoles. Within a 24 hour-incubation of the cell culture with DNase a relative volume of vacuoles in cells increased from 4.6 to 19.5 per cent, the majority of pinocytic vacuoles being filled with labeled DNase. The incubation of cells with non-labeled DNase (24 hours) did not damage DNA-containing cell structures. The data obtained permit to explain the selective effect of the enzyme on the viral DNA and the inhibition of reproduction of DNA-containing viruses by the interaction of the viral DNA and DNase inside pinocytic vacuoles which protect the cells from the enzyme damaging effect.