Neural spread of herpes simplex virus after anterior chamber inoculation.
A genetically engineered herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1, strain RH116) that expresses beta-galactosidase (beta-gal) was used as a marker to trace the route of interocular spread of HSV-1 after anterior chamber (AC) inoculation into BALB/c mice. Because RH116 is thymidine kinase deficient (TK-), the wild-type TK+ KOS strain of HSV-1 was used as a helper virus to complement RH116 during in vivo infection. After coinfection of BALB/c mice with RH116 and KOS in the AC of one eye, beta-gal expression by RH116 was detected in both the eyes and in the central nervous system (CNS). Our results suggest that after AC inoculation into BALB/c mice: (1) virus spreads from the injected eye to the CNS through parasympathetic fibers of the oculomotor nerve that supply the iris and ciliary body; (2) virus spread in the CNS is limited primarily to nuclei of the visual system and the suprachiasmatic area of the hypothalamus; and (3) virus is transmitted from the CNS to the retina of the contralateral eye by retrograde axonal transport through the optic nerve along the endocrine-optic pathway between the retina and the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus.
Vann
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Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Miami School of Medicine, Florida 33101.
Atherton
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D000818:Animals; D000867:Anterior Chamber / Q000382:microbiology*; D002490:Central Nervous System / Q000201:enzymology / Q000382:microbiology*; D005123:Eye / Q000201:enzymology; D005260:Female; D007031:Hypothalamus / Q000201:enzymology; D007267:Injections; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D009900:Optic Nerve / Q000201:enzymology; D012173:Retinitis / Q000382:microbiology; D018139:Simplexvirus / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000502:physiology*; D013194:Staining and Labeling; D013997:Time Factors; D014018:Tissue Distribution; D001616:beta-Galactosidase / Q000378:metabolism
D001616:beta-Galactosidase