[Recurrent herpetic keratitis in mice].

In order to investigate the mechanism of recurrence in herpes simplex keratitis, it is very important to establish an animal model. As a first step, mice were examined with the slit-lamp biomicroscope to determine whether they spontaneously showed recurrent epithelial keratitis after healing of primary herpetic keratitis. Among 90 eyes of 45 inbred C57BL/6 mice, recurrent epithelial keratitis stained with fluorescein was observed in 10 eyes of 9 mice during the observation period up to 50 days after the primary corneal infection with herpes simplex virus (HSV) type I Amakata strain (virulent strain). Recurrent epithelial keratitis was observed in 17 eyes of 15 mice among 116 eyes of 58 ddy mice infected with HSV-I Ska strain (avirulent strain). The epithelial lesions showed punctate or dendritic patterns and continued for one to 7 days. HSV antigen was detected by the fluorescent antibody technique in the cornea of 5 out of 8 eyes which showed recurrent epithelial keratitis using another ddy mice group tested. It was limited in the epithelium of the cornea. These results show that mice herpetic keratitis recurs spontaneously.