It is established that the central area of TMV-induced local lesions developed in detached Datura stramonium leaves, along with the completely collapsed cells (types I and II), contains cells (type III) conserving to a certain degree integrity of their structural components. A characteristic of the type III cells was the accumulation of considerable amount of virus and formation of TMV-specific granular and tubular inclusions. The study of lesion development showed that a proportion of the collapsed cells and cells of type III did not essentially change in the period up from 3 to 5 days after infection of the leaves. These data suggest that the disease development in cells of type III does not lead to a hypersensitive response and is very similar to that in the systemically infected cells.