[Optic nerve finding in experimental retinitis induced by herpes simplex virus].

We reported histological changes and viral localization of HSV-1 in the optic nerve by the ABC-method and electron microscopy, after intravitreal inoculation. There was neither histological change nor antigen deposition on the specimen of 3 days after inoculation. Some series of antigen-positive sites were successively found along the nerve fiber from the lamina cribrosa to the optic chiasma in the optic nerve on 4 days after inoculation. Round cell infiltration were also found around these sites, and these changes increased on the 8th day. Antigen-positive cells were mainly considered to be oligodendroglia and astrocytes. These results suggested that HSV-1 infected the optic nerve fiber via the retina. On the way to be the brain by axonal transport, they would infiltrate to the glial cells, where they could replicate and spread to neighbouring glial cells.