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Abstract
Specific inbred strains of mice have been shown to vary considerably in their resistance and susceptibility to herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection. We injected 2 X 10(5) plaque forming units (PFU) of the KOS strain of HSV-1 intracamerally into one eye of BALB/c, C57Bl/6, and F1 (BALB/c X C57Bl/6) mice. HSV-1 antigens were localized in frozen sections of enucleated eyes at 10 to 14 days post-inoculation. Injected eyes of BALB/c mice showed an anterior uveitis with HSV-1 antigens in the anterior segment and an intact retina free of HSV antigens. The retina of the contralateral uninjected eye was necrotic and contained HSV-1 antigens. In both C57Bl/6 and F1 mice, HSV antigens were limited to anterior segment structures in the injected eye, whereas, in contrast to BALB/c mice, the contralateral retina appeared histologically normal and contained no viral antigens. The C57Bl/6 and F1 strains remained relatively resistant to retinal infection even if pretreated with up to 800 Rads of irradiation. The retinas of normal or sublethally irradiated C57Bl/6 and F1, but not BALB/c strains, were also resistant to intravitreal injection of HSV. These results suggest that resistance to HSV retinitis is a dominantly inherited trait, which depends only partly upon immunologic factors and may be heavily influenced by the inherent ability of host cells from different murine strains to support a productive viral infection.