Genetic evolution of human coronavirus OC43 in neural cell culture.

The ATCC HCoV-OC43 strain (VR-759) was grown on the HRT-18 rectal tumor cell line. Persistent infection were carried out in those HRT-18 cells, as well as in the MO3.13 oligodendrocytic, H4 neuroglial, U-87 MG astrocytic, and TE-671 rhabdomyosarcoma cell lines (ATCC). Other cell lines used for virus susceptibility are described in Table 2. Four infections were performed in the H4 cell line, whereas the HRT-18, MO3.13, and H4 cell lines were acutely infected as controls.