Replication of herpes simplex virus in mouse spleen cell cultures stimulated by lipopolysaccharide

Replication of HSV was demonstrated in spleen cell cultures of D2 and several other strains of mice after prestimulation with mitogenic doses of LPS for 2 days. No viral replication occurred in unstimulated cultures or in cultures prestimulated with PHA and Con A, whereas there was some viral replication in spleen cell cultures of D2 mice after prestimulation with Poly I-C. Spleen cells of B6 mice did not support replication of HSV under any of the conditions we have tested thus far. The reasons for this defect are not clear, but it was obviously not caused by a defective lymphoproliferative response to LPS or by an active anti-viral principle elaborated by B6 spleen cells. F1 hybrids between B6 and D2 mice were capable of HSV replication to the same extent as were spleen cells of D2 mice. Several strains of both HSV-1 and HSV-2 could be replicated in D2 spleen cells cultures. Nylon column treatment of D2 spleen cells removed the ability to replicate HSV, whereas macrophage removal from the spleens by plastic adherence was without effect. Purified peritoneal exudate cells from D2 mice did not support replication of HSV. Together these data suggest that B cells activated by LPS represent the target cell of HSV replication in mouse spleen cell cultures.