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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2011 Sep 30.

Published in final edited form as: Virology. 2010 Jul 3;405(2):269–279. doi: 10.1016/j.virol.2010.06.006

A. Top figure: Model of mouse eye and surrounding orbital structures. Virus is injected into the vitreous body of the eye from which it infects retina ganglion cell neurons, iris, and ciliary body. During the inoculation, the needle penetrates the extra-ocular muscles, which often become infected. Middle figure: Enlargement of the retina: The innermost neurons of the retina are the ganglion cell neurons. Their axon fibers comprise the optic nerve. Movement of virus particles from cell bodies of ganglion cell neurons into the optic nerve represents targeting of viral components into axons and anterograde axonal transport. Bottom figure: Spread of virus from the ciliary body, iris or skeletal muscle to parasympathetic or motor nerve axons (epithelial to axon spread) and then to the neuron cell body (retrograde axonal transport). B. Retinas and optic nerves 3 or 5 dpi with 4 × 10⁵ PFU of WT, rgE2-del or gE2-del virus. HSV-2 antigens are in red, axon fibers are in green and nuclei are in blue. The retinas are shown in saggital section demonstrating all cell layers of the retina with the innermost ganglion cell layer towards the bottom of the figure. The optic nerve is also shown in saggital section; however, the orientation of the retina is rotated clockwise 90° compared with the retina infection figures. White arrowheads point to infected cells, including ganglion cell neurons at the innermost layer of the retina. Thick white arrows point to the optic nerve, and thin white arrows point to viral antigens in the retina. Results shown are representative of 3 retinas and optic nerves evaluated for WT and rgE2-del viruses, and 6 retinas and optic nerves for gE2-del virus. Magnification is 200X for retina infections, and 100X for optic nerves.

A. Top figure: Model of mouse eye and surrounding orbital structures. Virus is injected into the vitreous body of the eye from which it infects retina ganglion cell neurons, iris, and ciliary body. During the inoculation, the needle penetrates the extra-ocular muscles, which often become infected. Middle figure: Enlargement of the retina: The innermost neurons of the retina are the ganglion cell neurons. Their axon fibers comprise the optic nerve. Movement of virus particles from cell bodies of ganglion cell neurons into the optic nerve represents targeting of viral components into axons and anterograde axonal transport. Bottom figure: Spread of virus from the ciliary body, iris or skeletal muscle to parasympathetic or motor nerve axons (epithelial to axon spread) and then to the neuron cell body (retrograde axonal transport). B. Retinas and optic nerves 3 or 5 dpi with 4 × 10⁵ PFU of WT, rgE2-del or gE2-del virus. HSV-2 antigens are in red, axon fibers are in green and nuclei are in blue. The retinas are shown in saggital section demonstrating all cell layers of the retina with the innermost ganglion cell layer towards the bottom of the figure. The optic nerve is also shown in saggital section; however, the orientation of the retina is rotated clockwise 90° compared with the retina infection figures. White arrowheads point to infected cells, including ganglion cell neurons at the innermost layer of the retina. Thick white arrows point to the optic nerve, and thin white arrows point to viral antigens in the retina. Results shown are representative of 3 retinas and optic nerves evaluated for WT and rgE2-del viruses, and 6 retinas and optic nerves for gE2-del virus. Magnification is 200X for retina infections, and 100X for optic nerves.