Studies on Herpetic Infection in Mice

Abstract

In the preceding papers of this series (1-4) studies on passive immunization of mice against herpes virus inoculated intranasally or into the foot pad were reported. It was shown that antibodies acquired naturally by young mice suckled by immune mothers, or artificially by mice injected with specific antiserum from an heterologous species are effective in protecting against the virus subsequently inoculated by the nasal route. When the virus was inoculated into the foot pad, allowed to multiply locally, and enter the local nerves before antiserum was administered, a definite although incomplete protection was demonstinted. The present paper is concerned principally with the influence of the site of cutaneous inoculation of the virus on the development of herpetic infections of the nervous system of mice.A number of investigators have reported studies in which mice were inoculated with herpes virus by one route or by several routes (5-8) but no one has previously carried out a systematic study of the influence of the site of cutaneous inoculation on the susceptibility of mice to herpes virus.Virus was inoculated into the skin in various areas of the bodies of adult and young mice. Great differences in susceptibility have been found depending upon (1) the age of the mice, and (2) the site of the inoculation. Treatment of the skin with methylcholanthrene before inoculation of virus increased the susceptibility to herpetic infections to a limited extent. Materials and MethodsThe animals used in the present study were all Swiss mice from the stock described earlier (1).Two strains of herpes simplex virus were used.