Pathogenesis of post-herpetic neuralgia.

A model of post-herpetic neuralgia is put forward based on the physiological effects of herpes simplex type-1 virus infection of rat dorsal root ganglion neurons in tissue culture. This virus causes these normally electrically silent neurons to produce spontaneous action potentials. Furthermore, pairs of neurons tend to have synchronised discharges. This coupling is not synaptically mediated, but due to presumed electrical junctions. It is proposed that post-herpetic neuralgia is caused by abnormal impulses arising in dorsal root ganglion neurons as a direct result of viral infection.