Abstract
Dr. John Enders' outstanding discovery in 1949 that all three types of Poliomyelitis virus would grow in tissue culture of extraneural cells has paved the way for Dr. Jonas Salk's success in developing a safe and effective Poliomyelitis virus vaccine. Although virus vaccines are not new, this vaccine developed by Dr. Salk is the first to be produced on a large scale in tissue culture for human use. The advances made against this dreaded disease were made possible by the improvements in tissue culture techniques. One of the more important advances has been the development of a synthetic medium known as Medium 199. Although this medium has proved satisfactory in supporting the growth of tissue for the cultivation of Poliomyelitis virus, the expense and the limited supply of the large number of amino acids, nucleic acids, and vitamins of which the medium is composed, and the complexity of its preparation has made this medium costly and tedious to produce.
This study was undertaken with the hope of finding a simpler medium for the tissue cultivation of Poliomyelitis virus for use in vaccines.
