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Ocular Infection with Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV-1) in Vitamin A-Deficient and Control Rats^1,2,

Department of Nutrition and Food Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139

An experimental model was developed for studying ocular infections with herpes simplex virus (HSV) type 1 in vitamin A-deficient (-A) and pair-fed control (+A) rats. The severity and course of the disease was evaluated by clinical examination, slit lamp biomicroscopy and histopathologic observations. Experimental animals were in good health and were infected in the early stages of vitamin deficiency (either prior to or at the beginning of the weight plateau). In all trials the onset of herpetic keratitis was more rapid and the clinical disease more severe in -A rats compared to +A controls. Mean slit lamp scores (which assessed the severity of the corneal disease) increased from 3 to 10 d after infection and were higher (P < 0.002) in -A rats at all time points and doses of virus tested. The inflammatory response in the cornea and uveal tract of -A rats was significantly higher than that of +A animals. Since ocular HSV disease is a common cause of blindness, the availability of a rat model should be valuable in studies of the role of nutritional factors in host susceptibility and response to viral challenge. Mild vitamin A deficiency increased the severity of experimental corneal HSV infections and resulted in a high incidence of epithelial ulceration and necrosis.

KEY WORDS: • vitamin A • herpes simplex virus (HSV-1) • infection • eye

¹ This investigation was supported in part by Grant EY 03126 from the National Eye Institute of the National Institutes of Health and Grant RR-01046 from the Division of Research Resources of the National Institutes of Health.

² This work was presented in part at the 1983 Annual Meeting of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology in Chicago, IL. Nauss, K. M. & Newberne, P. M. (1983) The effect of progressive stages of vitamin A deficiency on ocular herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection in the rat. Fed. Proc. 42, 970 (abs. 3973).

Manuscript received 27 December 1984. Revision accepted 26 June 1985.