Comparison of the antiviral effect of solid-state copper and silver compounds.

Antiviral activities of insoluble solid-state and soluble ionic copper and silver compounds were evaluated against influenza A virus (A/PR8/H1N1) possessing a viral envelope and bacteriophage Qβ lacking an envelope. The viral solutions were exposed on glass samples uniformly loaded with copper and silver compounds. Exposure to solid-state cuprous oxide (Cu2O) efficiently inactivated both influenza A virus and bacteriophage Qβ, whereas solid-state cupric oxide (CuO) and silver sulfide (Ag2S) showed little antiviral activity.

Expression profiling of immune-related genes from Japanese flounder Paralichthys olivaceus kidney cells using cDNA microarrays.

A Japanese flounder Paralichthys olivaceus cDNA microarray containing 871 unique cDNAs including 91 putative immune-related genes from our EST studies was constructed and used to characterize of gene expression of in vitro grown kidney cells stimulated with mitogens such as ConA, PMA, LPS or infected with hirame rhabdovirus (HRV). The numbers of genes whose expressions were increased or decreased by these factors were: 17 by Con A, 139 by PMA, 76 by LPS and 182 by HRV infection. The treatment of Con A for 1 and 6h affected the expression of only a few of the immune-related genes.