PERSISTENCE OF HERPES-SIMPLEX VIRUS TYPE-1 DNA IN CHRONIC CONJUNCTIVAL AND EYELID LESIONS OF MICE

Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) causes chronic blepharitis and con junctivitis as well as keratitis in humans, The pathogenesis of these inflammatory ocular and dermal lesions is not well understood. We have examined the persistence of HSV-1 DNA and its relationship to inflamm atory lesions in the conjunctiva and eyelid skin of mice which were in oculated with HSV-1 by the corneal route. Viral DNA was detected by in situ PCR in the conjunctiva and eyelid tissue of infected mice at 5, 11, 23, and 37 days postinfection (p.i.). This DNA was localized in th e epithelial cells of the conjunctiva and hair follicles and in the ep idermal cells of the eyelid skin. Viral proteins were not detected in the conjunctiva or the eyelid skin after 5 days p.i., even though hist opathological lesions were found at 23 and 37 days p.i. in both tissue s, The DNA-containing cells were adjacent to sites of inflammation in the chronic lesions in both the conjunctiva and the eyelid skin. A sim ilar temporal and spatial relationship between HSV-1 DNA and inflammat ory lesions has been previously reported for the cornea, Our data sugg est that the lesions in the cornea, conjunctiva, and eyelid skin progr ess similarly, Further, studies are required to determine whether the long-term presence of HSV-1 is involved in the mechanism by which thes e chronic inflammatory lesions develop. The presence of HSV-1 DNA in t hese extraocular tissues for extended periods may constitute persisten t viral infection of nonneuronal cells.