Interaction of herpesvirus with spleen cell subpopulations comparison of a neurotropic and a lymphotropic virus.

We studied the interaction of a neurotropic herpesvirus, herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) or type 2 (HSV-2), and a lymphotropic herpesvirus, guinea pig herpes-like virus (HLV), with guinea pig spleen cells. Both HSV-1 and HSV-2 and HLV can attach to and penetrate into B- or T-enriched cells. Less than 1.4% of the total B- or T-enriched cell populations were susceptible to infection by HLV and to some degree to HSV-1 or HSV-2 as determined by infectious center assays. After specific antiserum treatment, higher titers of intracellular virus were detected in HLV-infected cells than in HSV-1- or HSV-2-infected cells. Both B-enriched and T-enriched cells could support HLV replication, but not that of HSV-1 or HSV-2. The replication of HSV-1 was demonstrated in guinea pig spleen cells pretreated with lipopolysaccharide but not with phytohemagglutinin. Furthermore, when cells were separated into B- and T-enriched cells, the B- enriched cells prestimulated with lipopolysaccharide were susceptible to HSV-1 replication, whereas the T-enriched cells prestimulated with phytohemagglutinin were not. The differences observed in vitro in the interactions of these two herpesviruses with guinea pig spleen cell subpopulations may provide a basis for understanding the differences observed in vivo in the pathogenesis of these two viruses; i.e., HLV is capable of infecting and persisting in guinea pig lymphocytes, whereas HSV is not.