Purification of porcine circovirus 2 (PCV-2) using viral ultrafiltration and assessment of viral infectivity

Abstract

Porcine Circovirus (PCV, Porcine Circovirus) is a non-enveloped virus belonging to the Circoviridae family and the Circovirus genus. Among the identified species of porcine circovirus (PCV-1, PCV-2, PCV-3 and PCV-4), PCV-2 stands out, which is the pathogenic viral species of clinical importance for swine. When PCV-2 infects swine, it is related to the multisystemic wasting syndrome (MWS), which promotes in animals: cachexia, loss of appetite, dyspnea, lymphadenopathy, jaundice and diarrhea. In addition to MWS, other clinical manifestations and consequences may be associated with PCV-2 infection, such as porcine dermatitis and nephropathy syndrome, reproductive disorders, proliferative and necrotizing pneumonia, congenital tremor, among others. In this way, this virus is responsible for several losses for the swine industry, resulting in harmful consequences of an economic aspect. Finally, due to the justifications presented above, it is necessary to study and develop works related to PCV-2 aimed at understanding its pathogenesis, diagnosis, prevention and control. For this, it is essential to use effective techniques for viral purification, which are capable of guaranteeing the purity of the samples and preserving viral infectivity. In this way, the viral purification process allows obtaining pure virus, which can be used in several studies, enabling the elucidation of the molecular details and functional aspects of the viruses, as well as the improvement of diagnostic techniques, since the virus pure can be used in the production of antibodies and/or specific antigens. In this work, the viral ultrafiltration technique will be used for the fast and efficient purification of PCV-2, followed by the evaluation of its viral infectivity in swine testis (ST) cell cultures.