Viral plaque

A viral plaque is a visible structure formed within a cell culture, such as bacterial cultures within some nutrient medium (e.g. agar). The viruses replicate and spread, thus generating regions of cell destructions known as plaques.

These plaques can be detected visually; however, they are not always visible to the naked eye. Sometimes they can only be seen through a microscope, or using techniques such as staining or immunofluorescence. In addition, special computer systems have been designed with the ability to scan samples in batches.

See Also

• Assay
• Virus
• Virology

External links

• An image of viral plaques in blood agar