Neurovirulence of herpes simplex virus types 1 and 2 isolates in diseases of the central nervous system

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) isolates derived from the central nervous system of ten patients with HSV-1-induced encephalitis, one patient with multiple sclerosis, and 14 patients with HSV-2-induced meningitis were investigated for neurovirulence by assaying the LD50 after nose and intracerebral (i.c....

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Published inEuropean journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases Vol. 9; no. 10; p. 751
Main Authors Bergström, T, Alestig, K, Svennerholm, B, Horal, P, Sköldenberg, B, Vahlne, A
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Germany 01.10.1990
Subjects
Animals
Encephalitis - etiology
Encephalitis - microbiology
Humans
Lethal Dose 50
Meningitis - etiology
Meningitis - microbiology
Mice
Multiple Sclerosis - etiology
Multiple Sclerosis - microbiology
Simplexvirus - isolation & purification
Simplexvirus - pathogenicity
Simplexvirus - physiology
Species Specificity
Virulence
Virus Replication
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Summary:Herpes simplex virus (HSV) isolates derived from the central nervous system of ten patients with HSV-1-induced encephalitis, one patient with multiple sclerosis, and 14 patients with HSV-2-induced meningitis were investigated for neurovirulence by assaying the LD50 after nose and intracerebral (i.c.) inoculation of mice. HSV-1 encephalitis strains were significantly more virulent after nose inoculation (i.e. neuroinvasive) when compared with HSV-1 isolates from patients with oral lesions only, whereas HSV-2 meningitis strains were significantly more virulent after i.c. inoculation when compared with HSV-2 isolates from patients with genital lesions only. No correlation between high neurovirulence (defined as low LD50 for both routes of infection) and replication in cell cultures of neuronal and non-neuronal cell lines was found, but the weakly neurovirulent HSV-1 strain isolated from a patient with multiple sclerosis gave low replication yields. After nose inoculation, a highly neuroinvasive HSV-1 laboratory reference strain replicated to high titers in nose tissue, the trigeminal ganglia and brainstem, while a strain with low neuroinvasiveness but high i.c. virulence replicated less well in the brainstem. Neuroinvasiveness of the virus strain might be one factor of relevance in the pathogenesis of HSV-1 encephalitis in man.
ISSN:0934-9723
DOI:10.1007/BF02184688