Cytogenetic effect of two strains of Junin virus in the guinea pig.

The cytogenetic effect of two strains of Junin virus on bone marrow chromosomes of the guinea pig was studied. Animals infected with the attenuated strain XJ-Cl3 showed no differences from control animals. Guinea pigs inoculated with the pathogenic strain XJ exhibited a significant increase of abnormal cells, chromatid breaks, and chromosome fragments. The clastogenic ability of the XJ strain is similar to the reported effect of other viruses, while the XJ-Cl3 strain does not appear to be clastogenic.