Herpes simplex virus type I (HSV-1) infection causes inflammation in the cornea known as herpes simplex virus keratitis (HSK), a common but serious corneal disease. It is not entirely clear whether the virus during recurring infection comes from the trigeminal ganglia or the eye tissue, including the retina and ciliary ganglion. Because the tree shrew is closely related to primates and tree shrew eye anatomic structures are similar to humans, we studied HSV-1 corneal infection in the tree shrew. We found that HSK symptoms closely mimic those found in human HSK showing typical punctiform and dendritic viral keratitis during the acute infection period. Following the HSV-specific lesions, complications such as stromal scarring, corneal thickening (primary infection), opacity, and neovascularization were observed. In the tree shrew model, following ocular inoculation, the cornea becomes infected, and viral protein can be detected using anti-HSV-1 antibodies in the epithelial layer and retina neuronal ganglion cells. The HSV-1 transcripts, ICP0, ICP4, and LAT can be detected at 3 days post-infection (dpi), peaking at 5 dpi. After 2 weeks, ICP4 and ICP0 transcripts are reduced to a basal level, but the Latency Associated Transcripts (LATs) continue to accumulate. Interestingly, after the acute infection, we still detected abundant active HSV-1 in tree shrew eyes. Further, we found HSV-1 persistent in the ciliary ganglion and cornea. These findings are discussed in support of the tree shrew as a non-human primate HSK model, which could be useful for mechanistic studies of HSK.
Keywords: Ciliary ganglion; HSV-1; LAT; Latency; Tree shrew.