The pathogenesis of murine cytomegalovirus ocular infection. Anterior chamber inoculation.

To investigate the pathogenesis of ocular cytomegalovirus infections, 3-week-old BALB/c mice were inoculated with 10(4) plaque-forming units of murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) by the right anterior chamber and studied sequentially with the use of virus assays and in situ nucleic acid hybridization methods. During acute infection, MCMV was recovered from the right vitreous, lens, cornea, retina/choroid, and optic nerve. Titers of MCMV exceeded 10(3) per ml of homogenate on days 4 and 7 after inoculation. With the use of biotinylated MCMV DNA probes, MCMV nucleic acids were detected in and adjacent to cells of the iris and ciliary body and occasionally within inflammatory lesions of the cornea. During chronic infection, MCMV was recovered, with the use of co-cultivation or explant methods, from ocular tissues of occasional mice inoculated with MCMV 1 yr earlier. Infectious MCMV was also recovered from the ocular homogenates of a group of mice immunosuppressed with antilymphocyte serum and cortisone. These studies indicate that cells of the uveal tract are permissive for MCMV and suggest that intrinsic persistence or latency of cytomegalovirus in ocular tissues could contribute to the pathogenesis of ocular infections in immunosuppressed hosts.