Cell-Mediated Immune Responses in Herpes Simplex Virus-Infected Mice

Publisher Summary This chapter describes the experiments conducted to study the cell-mediated immune responses in herpes simplex virus-infected mice. To study the detailed immune response against herpes simplex virus type 1 infection the mouse ear model was used in which the primary, latent, and recurrent phases of the disease have been well defined. Following the inoculation of herpes into the ear pinna, a local infection is produced in which infective virus titers become maximal on the third day and gradually dwindle to become undetectable after a week. Infectious virus can also be recovered from the dorsal root ganglia during the third to fifth day, but the titers are much lower than those detected in the pinna. After a period of 20 days, about 90 % of the mice are likely to be latently infected—that is, infective virus can be recovered from the ganglia only after a period of culture in vitro .