Ultrastructure of Corneal Epithelial Cells Foll owing Inoculation of Herpes Simplex Virus in Rabbit

ABSTRACT

This study was performed to investigate the ultrastructural changes of the infected corneal epithelial cell by herpes simplex virus in rabbit eyes. Herpes simplex virus(type 1, Kos strain)was inoculated on the injured cornea in 5 rabbit. The eyeballs, which was enucleated on days 3, 5, 7, 10 and 14, respectively following the inoculation of herpes simplex virus was examined by the transmission electron microscopy. The intercellular space of the infected corneal epithelial cells were widened with the loss of the desmosomal attachment, followed by the detachment of the adjacent epithelial cell. The nuclear change was characterized by the chromatin clumping, intranuclear inclusion body and virus particles within the nucleus. The basal epithelial cells were detached from the corneal stroma with the relatively well preserved desmosomal attachment between the adjacent epithelial cell. These findings suggest that the intercellular space of the infected corneal epithelial cells was widened, followed by the loss of the epithelial cells. Around 2 weeks following the inoculation of herpes simplex virus, the remodelling of both the corneal epithelial cell-cell and epithelial cell-stromal interface was nearly completed.