岡山県下に発生した流行性肝炎の病原体に関する研究 i) 分離ウイルスの精製 ii) 分離ウイルスの電子顕微鏡的観察

Purification and electron microscopic study of the virus isolated by Murakami et al. from the patients of infectious hepatitis in Okayama Prefecture were tried in parallel with animal experiments. The results are summarized as follows: 1) Of all the purification methods tried, the combination of infusion with a saline solution and centrifugation was proved to be the most excellent one for electron microscopic observation and animal experiments. The good efficiency and the simplicity of its procedures also made this method suitable for the purification of the virus of infectious hepatitis. 2) In electron micrographs, the viruses were observed as round or ovoid particles of abo t 50 mμ in diameter. 3) Inoculation of the material containing these particles into mice caused such pathological findings as previously reported by Murakami at el.; a high degree of degeneration or necrosis of liver parenchymal cells accompanied with various cell infiltrations. These observations led the author to the conclusion that the purified particles were nothing but the isolated hepatotropic viruses.