Herpes simplex virus DNA sequences in the CNS of latently infected mice

Abstract

Molecular hybridization techniques were used to analyze the date of herpes simplex virus [HSV] that reach the CNS by anatomical pathways. Six days after corneal inoculation of HSV-1 a productive viral infection was present in brain tissue and 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 explanation from 95% of the trigeminal ganglia, but only 5% of the brain tissue explants of the same mice yielded infectious virus. HSV DNA sequences were detected in the brains of 30% of mice which harbored latent HSV in their trigeminal ganglia. Viruses taht progress from the PNS peripheral nervous system into the CNS are not eliminated, but are capable of establishing a latent infection in the CNS that cannot be reactivated by explanation techniques.