ABSTRACT
The infective cycle of viral entry, replication, and release has been extensively studied. Generally, the emphasis has rested on the molecular events through which infection by cytocidal viruses allows the viral nucleic acid to supercede the host cell genome in dictating the direction of protein synthesis. It is self-evident that cellular lysis following cytocidal viral infection is due to a catastrophic increase in plasma membrane permeability which leads to the release of intracellular macromolecules. Calcium ions inhibit the permeability changes caused by hemolytic paramyxoviruses. The experiments document changes in divalent cations and water that take place when hemolytic viruses fuse with cells. Relaxation enhancement is an established method for measuring water permeability in living cells. The population with the shortest relaxation rate, in this case the extracellular medium, must have a residence time considerably longer than observed relaxation time.
