Arenavirus morphogenesis and budding occurs at cellular plasma membrane; however, the nature of membrane assembly sites remains poorly understood. In this study we examined the effect of different cholesterol-lowering agents on Junin virus (JUNV) multiplication. We found that cholesterol cell depletion reduced JUNV glycoproteins (GPs) Membrane expression and virus budding. Analysis of membrane protein insolubility in Triton X-100 suggested that JUNV GPs associate with cholesterol enriched membranes. Rafts dissociation conditions as warm detergent extraction and cholesterol removal by methyl-beta-cyclodextrin compound showed to impair GPs cholesterol enriched membrane association. Analysis of GPs transfected cells showed similar results suggesting that membrane raft association is independent of other viral proteins. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.