Herpes simplex virus DNA sequences in the CNS of latently infected mice (original) (raw)

Nature volume 288, pages 288–290 (1980)Cite this article

Abstract

It has been amply documented that herpes simplex virus (HSV) persists in sensory ganglia of the peripheral nervous system (PNS)1–5. In contrast, HSV latency in the central nervous system (CNS) has not been well characterized. Corneal inoculation of virus results in a productive viral infection in the CNS during the first week after inoculation6, Indicating that the virus can progress from the PNS to the CNS. During latency, HSV has been found by co-cultivation of CNS tissue in only a very small fraction of inoculated mice7,8. We have used here molecular hybridization techniques to analyse the fate of viruses that reach the CNS by anatomical pathways. We show that 6 days after corneal inoculation of HSV-1 a productive viral infection was present in brain tissue as well as in peripheral ganglia in at least 90% of the inoculated mice. The mortality during this acute phase was only 2%. In the survivors, latent HSV could be recovered by explantation from 95% of the trigeminal ganglia, but only 5% of the brain tissue expiants of the same mice yielded infectious virus. However, HSV DNA sequences were detected in the brains of 30% of mice which harboured latent HSV in their trigeminal ganglia. These results suggest that viruses that progress from the PNS into the CNS are not eliminated, but are capable of establishing a latent infection in the CNS that cannot be reactivated by explantation techniques.

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Author notes

  1. Carlos V. Cabrera
    Present address: Division of Biology, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, 91125
  2. Harry Openshaw
    Present address: Dept of Neurology, UC Davis Medical Center, Sacramento, California, 95817
  3. Manuel Rey-Mendez
    Present address: Depto de Bioquimica, facultad de Ciencias Biologicas, Universidad de Santiago, Santiago, Spain

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Oral Medicine, National Institute of Dental Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, 20205
    Carlos V. Cabrera, Charles Wohlenberg, Harry Openshaw, Manuel Rey-Mendez, Alvaro Puga & Abner Louis Notkins

Authors

  1. Carlos V. Cabrera
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  2. Charles Wohlenberg
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  3. Harry Openshaw
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  4. Manuel Rey-Mendez
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  5. Alvaro Puga
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  6. Abner Louis Notkins
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Cabrera, C., Wohlenberg, C., Openshaw, H. et al. Herpes simplex virus DNA sequences in the CNS of latently infected mice.Nature 288, 288–290 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1038/288288a0

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