Stability of Enveloped and Nonenveloped Viruses in a Stable Gelatin Liquid Formulation

Abstract The thermal stability of relevant viruses in gelatin liquid formulations for medical research and application is poorly understood. Bovine herpesvirus (BHV) was used as a model virus to examine the molecular weight (MW), concentration and gelatin type and to optimize virus stability in liquid formulations at 25 °C and 4 °C. Using the model virus stable liquid formulation, the stability of multiple enveloped and nonenveloped RNA and DNA viruses, including parainfluenza virus (PIV), reovirus (RV), BHV, and adenovirus (AdV), was monitored over up to a 30-week storage period. The BHV model virus was considered stable after 3 weeks in hydrolyzed gelatin (MW: 4000) with a 0.8 LRV (log10 reduction value) at 25 °C or a 0.2 LRV at 4 °C, compared to the stabilities observed in higher MW gelatin (60000 and 160000) with an LRV above 1. Based on the gelatin type, BHV in B-type gelatin samples were unexpectantly more stable than in A-type gelatin sample. All four viruses exhibited stability at 4 °C for at least 8 weeks, BHV or AdV remained stable for over 30 weeks of storage, and at 25 °C, AdV and RV remained stable for 8 weeks. The results demonstrated that 5% hydrolyzed gelatin can act as a relevant stabilizer for the thermal stability of viruses in medical research and application.