Axonal transport of herpes simplex virions to epidermal cells: evidence for a specialized mode of virus transport and assembly.

To examine the transmission of herpes simplex virus (HSV) from axon to epidermal cell, an in vitro model was constructed consisting of human fetal dorsal root ganglia cultured in the central chamber of a dual-chamber tissue culture system separated from autologous skin explants in an exterior chamber by concentric steel cylinders adhering to the substratum through silicon grease and agarose. Axons grew through the agarose viral diffusion barrier and terminated on epidermal cells in the exterior chamber. After inoculation of HSV onto dorsal root ganglia, anterograde axonal transport of glycoprotein and nucleocapsid antigen was observed by confocal microscopy to appear in exterior chamber axons within 12 h and in epidermal cells within 16 h, moving at 2-3 mm/h. Although both enveloped and unenveloped nucleocapsids were observed in the neuronal soma by transmission electron microscopy, only nucleocapsids were observed in the axons, closely associated with microtubules. Nodule formation at the surface of HSV-infected axons, becoming more dense at the axon terminus on epidermal cells, and patches of axolemmal HSV glycoprotein D expression were observed by scanning (immuno)electron microscopy, probably representing virus emerging from the axolemma. These findings strongly suggest a specialized mode of viral transport, assembly, and egress in sensory neurons: microtubule-associated intermediate-fast anterograde axonal transport of unenveloped nucleocapsids with separate transport of glycoproteins to the distal regions of the axon and assembly prior to virus emergence at the axon terminus.