[Neuromorphologic aspects of experimental herpetic infection]

At intracerebral, intracutaneous, intracorneal and intraneural ways of infection with herpes simplex to mice and rabbits it has been stated immunomorphologically and electron microscopically that reproduction of the virus has been observed in various cells of the nervous system and accompanied with appearance of certain dystrophic changes in them. Reproductivity of the disease, duration of the incubation period, spread of the pathological process, successiveness of the lesion in the nervous system structures are determined by neurotropism of the strain and by the infection variant. The subclinical course of the infection does not exclude a productive reproduction of the virus in sensitive cells and corresponding morphologic equivalent. Inflammatory-dystrophic changes in the nervous tissue are always wider than the virus fixation zone. Reveal of the virus antigen and viral particles usually overtakes the appearance of infective-allergic reactions. The electron microscopic investigations prove that a whole cycle of the virus reproduction in the nervous system cells is possible. A predominant reveal of the viral particles in the axoplasma of the nervous fibers emphasizes the importance of the axonal way for penetration of the virus into the nervous system. The complex experimental-morphological investigation is an adequate model for studying pathogenesis and pathomorphology of the herpetic infection.