ABSTRACT
Viruses produced clearly detectable cellular and histological lesions in those in vitro systems, leading to the idea that the traumatic lesions caused by virus multiplication in the organism were amenable to study in more simplified situations. Furthermore, the kind of morphological alterations induced by each virus and the kinetics of interference with these cellular processes differ for each virus/cell system considered. Therefore, it has been suggested that the underlying molecular events responsible for toxicity may be different for each animal virus. This assumption has hampered our knowledge of the mechanisms of virus-induced cell toxicity. A number of laboratories are directing their efforts to ascertain the mechanism used by animal viruses to modify cellular membranes and to identify the viral components responsible for those modifications. The results obtained will help to clarify the relationship between virus-induced membrane damage and the cytotoxic effects caused by virus replication.
