Differences in susceptibility to herpes simplex virus infection of inbred strains of mice

Marked differences were observed between the susceptibility of adult C57BL/6 and DBA/2 mice to infection with HSV-1. These differences were seen after various infection schedules but were most marked after i.p. infection. A significant difference between the LD50 after i.p. infection was also observed between LPS-resistant C3H/HeJ and the closely related LPS-sensitive C3HeB/FeJ mice. Injection of LPS significantly increased the LD50 after i.p. infection with HSV in C57BL/6 or C3H/HeJ mice but not in C3HeB/FeJ mice. In vitro pretreatment with LPS was necessary to demonstrate replication of HSV in mouse spleen-cell cultures. Such replication could be demonstrated in cultures of DBA/2 and C3HeB/FeJ but not in C57BL/6 or C3H/HeJ mice.