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Journal of Virology, October 1999, p. 8571-8577, Vol. 73, No. 10
0022-538X/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Prevalence of Varicella-Zoster Virus DNA in Dissociated Human Trigeminal Ganglion Neurons and Nonneuronal Cells

James J. LaGuardia,1 Randall J. Cohrs,1 and Donald H. Gilden1,2,*

Departments of Neurology1 and Microbiology,2 University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, Colorado 80262

Received 27 April 1999/Accepted 18 June 1999

Previous analyses using in situ hybridization alone or together with PCR have yielded conflicting results regarding the cell type in which latent varicella-zoster virus (VZV) resides. We separated human trigeminal ganglia (TG) into neuronal and nonneuronal fractions, followed by primary and nested PCR to quantitate VZV DNA at the single cell level. Both TG from each of eight cadavers were dissociated and separated into neuronal and nonneuronal cell suspensions by differential filtration. Analysis of the neuron fraction (5,000 neurons per sample) revealed VZV DNA in 9 of 16 samples, with copy numbers ranging from 1 to 12, whereas only 2 of 16 nonneuronal cell samples were positive for VZV DNA, with 1 copy each. Further analysis of 10 samples of 100 neurons and the corresponding nonneuronal cell fractions from each TG of a single subject revealed VZV DNA in 3 of 10 samples of the left TG (range, 2 to 5 copies) and in 1 of 10 samples of the right TG (2 copies) but in none of the 20 nonneuronal cell fractions. These data indicate that latent VZV DNA is present primarily, if not exclusively, in neurons, at a frequency of two to five copies per latently infected neuron.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Neurology, Box B182, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, 4200 East 9th Ave., Denver, CO 80262. Phone: (303) 315-8281. Fax: (303) 315-8720. E-mail: don.gilden{at}uchsc.edu.

Journal of Virology, October 1999, p. 8571-8577, Vol. 73, No. 10
0022-538X/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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