Reactivation of herpes virus after lamellar keratoplasty.
OBJECTIVE
To determine if lamellar keratoplasty in rabbits latently infected with herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) would stimulate graft recipients to shed virus and induce viral-specific corneal lesions.


METHODS
Rabbits latently infected with HSV-1 received lamellar allografts in one eye from normal uninfected rabbits and the contralateral eyes served as unoperated controls. Normal rabbits received lamellar grafts from rabbits latently infected with HSV-1. For 1 week after surgery, slit-lamp examination and ocular swab sampling were performed daily to assess viral reactivation.


RESULTS
The occurrence of positive swab cultures and corneal epithelial lesions after lamellar keratoplasty was significantly higher in operated eyes of latently infected rabbits when compared to the control eyes. Ocular shedding or recurrent lesions were not observed in the normal rabbits receiving corneal grafts from latently infected donors.


CONCLUSIONS
These results indicated that lamellar keratoplasty induces HSV-1 shedding and recurrent epithelial lesions in the eyes of rabbits latently infected with HSV-1, which received lamellar grafts, but not in the eyes of normal rabbits given lamellar grafts from HSV-1 latently infected rabbits. It seems that the site of viral latency is not the anterior corneal stroma or the epithelium.
Zheng
X
X
Department of Ophthalmology, Louisiana State University Eye Center, Louisiana State University Medical Center School of Medicine, New Orleans 70112-2234, USA.
Loutsch
J M
JM
Shimomura
Y
Y
Gebhardt
B M
BM
Hill
J M
JM
Kaufman
H E
HE
D000818:Animals; D016039:Corneal Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects*; D019573:Epithelium, Corneal / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology*; D018259:Herpesvirus 1, Human / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000502:physiology*; D016849:Keratitis, Herpetic / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D011817:Rabbits; D012008:Recurrence; D013666:Tears / Q000821:virology; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous; D014775:Virus Activation; D017735:Virus Latency / Q000502:physiology; D017201:Virus Shedding / Q000502:physiology