Carbon Quantum Dots Assisted Virus Tracking: From Skin to Brain

Incurable infection by herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) can cause severe encephalitis and neurodegenerative diseases, e.g., Alzheimer's disease (AD) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. How HSV-1 reaches the brain from the initial infection site remains inconclusive. Here, an innovative approach combining carbon quantum dots (CQDs) with dissolving microneedles (dMN) for real-time tracking of HSV-1 from skin to brain is presented. Upon application, CQDs-HSV-1 is released from the dMN through the swelling of interstitial fluid (ISF) in skin and subsequently monitored by living imaging. Remarkably, it is observed that HSV-1 preferentially infects peripheral skin nerves, almost all viruses directly enter to brain via the spinal cord within 10-30 min, while few viruses enter the brain through the bloodstream via tail vein injection at the same time. Spinal cord injury (SCI) significantly delays the HSV-1 transport from skin to brain but has no effect on the virus's travel from blood to brain. In a microfluid system, HSV-1 shows preferential neurite infection, then transports to the cell body of differentiated SH-SY5Y cells, highlighting the viral traffic process in neurons. The integration of CQDs-virus labelling technology and dMN delivery model presents a promising tool for investigating the in vivo transport routes of neurotropic viruses with initial skin infections.