Stress-induced reactivation of latent herpes simplex virus infection in rat lumbar dorsal root ganglia.

Clinical reports suggest that stress precipitates recurrent cutaneous Herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection, presumably by reactivating latent infection in sensory ganglia with subsequent centrifugal axonal spread to the skin. As an initial test of this hypothesis, rats with latent HSV, type-1, (HSV-1) infection in lumbar dorsal root ganglia (DRG) were exposed to a well-characterized acute stressor that produced gastric ulcers (U) and elevated plasma corticosterone (CS) concentrations. Stress-induced reactivation of latent HSV infection was suggested by the earlier appearance of cytopathic effect (CPE) in human foreskin fibroblast monolayers co-cultivated with ganglia from stressed rats than from nonstressed ones (4.5 +/- 0.2 and 6.4 +/- 0.4 [mean +/- SEM] days respectively; p < 0.001). No CPE was detected in monolayers co-cultivated with ganglia from non-infected rats. These initial results suggest that acute stress reactivates latent HSV-1 ganglionic infection.