Identification of the HSV-1 genome by "Dot Blot hybridization" in the geniculate ganglion of rabbits.

Herpes simplex Virus type 1 (HSV-1) was inoculated into 48 rabbits by 3 different routes: 10 rabbits were dosed by mouth, 18 rabbits injected in the tongue and 14 injected in the perineurium of the facial nerve at its entrance into the stylomastoid foramen. Some of the animals were killed after a week and others after three weeks. Facial palsy was produced in none of the cases. Seroconversion was demonstrated in the peripheral blood of 100% of the inoculated animals. Cultures of macerate of the facial nerve and geniculate ganglion, as well as of the ipsilateral medulla, were negative. DNA from HSV-1 was found by "Dot Blot hybridization" technique in 30% of the macerates of the geniculate ganglion and facial nerve and in 60% of the medulla macerate in those animals killed after one week and in 0% of both samples in those killed in the third week. The fact that the HSV-1 could be isolated in the geniculate ganglion of the facial nerve continues to support the possibility of this virus as the causal agent for facial palsy, either as a single disease or associated with other symptoms.