Detection of herpes virus genome in Alzheimer's disease by in situ hybridization: a preliminary study.

The hypothesis that the limbic predilection for the histopathological lesions of Alzheimer's disease may be due to reactivation of Herpes simplex virus from the trigeminal ganglia is being tested by in situ hybridization, utilizing post mortem tissues harvested in a longitudinal study of this organic dementia. Techniques demonstrating Herpes virus DNA with sensitivity in the subgenomous range have already shown that this common viral agent resides in latent form within the Gasserian neurones of aged individuals. The possibility that such material when reactivated could travel via trigeminal branches to the medial temporal lobe of the human brain is under investigation.