EFFECTS ON VIRUS AND PHAGE 579 



phages, this virus is fairly susceptible to naphthoquinones (Hall et al. did not 

 test 1,2-NQ or 1,4-NQ), and in fact 1,2-naphthoquinone and 1,4-naphtho- 

 quinone are more potent inactivators than Hg++ or other SH reagents, 

 indicating some very reactive group on the virus protein. However, none of 

 the quinones was found to be effective in treating corneal herpes infections 

 in rabbits. 



The few reports on virus proliferation, both in vitro and in vivo, all agree 

 that the quinones are quite potently inhibitory and that a surprising se- 

 lectivity may be observed. R. L. Thompson (1947) demonstrated that 

 j9-benzoquinone suppresses the proliferation of vaccinia virus in embryo 

 tissue culture around 35% over a period of 4 days at a concentration of 

 of 0.00092 mM, while at 0.092 mM proliferation is essentially stopped, 

 j9-Benzohydroquinone is. much less effective, probably because the partial 

 anaerobiosis prevents its full conversion to the quinone. Menadione is 

 inactive at 0.058 mM but strongly inhibitory at 0.58 mM. If embryo tissue 

 cultures are exposed to 1 mM ^j-benzohydroquinone for 1 hr and then 

 inoculated with psittacosis virus, the cultures grow well but proliferation 

 of the virus is markedly reduced, indicating that some action is exerted on 

 the host cells which interferes with their ability to support virus growth 

 (Burney and Golub, 1948). A clear demonstration of selectivity is found in 

 the work on Tg cohphage by Czekalowski (1952). Incubation of the phage 

 with 1 mM 2-OH-l,4-napthoquinone, 5.5 mM toluquinone, or 50 mM 

 p-benzohydroquinone has no effect on subsequent intrabacterial prolifera- 

 tion, but similar treatment of the bacteria completely prevents phage mul- 

 tiplication. However, when the phage is added with the quinone to the bac- 

 terial suspension, it was claimed that these quinones reduce phage develop- 

 ment without affecting the reproduction of the host bacteria, although no 

 data are given.* These limited studies indicate interesting possibilities for 

 the selective antiviral activities of the quinones, but the significance of 

 this and the mechanisms involved have not been explored. 



A very selective action of several hydroquinones on type 2 poliomyelitis 

 virus proliferating in cultures of monkey testicular tissue was demonstrated 

 by Kramer et al. (1955) in a search for possible chemotherapeutic agents. 

 Of the numerous compounds tested, substances which can be oxidized to 



* It is somewhat unexpected that the high concentrations of these quinones would 

 be without eifect on E. coli since the results of other investigators summarized in 

 Table 5-9 show the quinones used here to be bacteriostatic at concentrations less 

 than one tenth those claimed to be without effect by Czekalowski. Perhaps the dif- 

 ference is due to the times over which the bacterial proliferation was determined. 

 It is not very clear how Czekalowski evaluated the effects on the bacteria, since the 

 only data given for this type of experiment, illustrating the effect of fluoride, cover a 

 period of only GO min, during which time it would be difficult to determine if there 

 were an effect on the bacteria. 



