Production of Chikungunya virus propagated in Aedes albopictus cells compared with the production of this virus propagated in Vero cells

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV), the cause of chikungunya fever, is a member of genus Alphavirus and family Togaviridae. Chikungunya fever is a re-emerging infectious disease that is endemic to Africa and Asia. The classic clinical symptoms after infection by CHIKV are sudden febrile illness, headache, rash, myalgia, althalgia, edema of the extremities, and gastrointestinal complaints. Moreover, severe dermatological lesions, lethal hepatitis and encephalitis can occur in newborns and old people. CHIKV has been shown to infect a wide variety of cell lines with differential pathogenicity. This study worked with a CHIKV isolated from recent outbreak Thailand (2008-2009) and aimed to compare production of CHIKV propagated in mosquito Aedes albopictus C6/36 cells, which are representative of one of the main natural vectors, and in African green monkey kidney (Vero) cells. CHIKV propagation, microscopic and standard plaque assay were applied for this research. The results showed different patterns of infection. The growth curve of CHIKV in C6/36 cells illustrated that the highest viral titer of CHIKV in C6/36 cells was produced on day 2 post infection. Cytopathic effect (CPE) was utilized to assay productivity in Vero cells. Optimal collection occurred when Vero cells were undergoing 30-40% CPE. While reduced virus titer was observed when CPE reached 50-70%. Virus titer in Vero cells was depended upon the degree of CPE, amount of input virus, time of virus collection and cell type for virus propagation. The results of this studies are primary information and useful for further developing CHIKV studies.