Viruses, Vol. 13, Pages 2072: Herpes Simplex Virus 1 and 2 Infections during Differentiation of Human Cortical Neurons

Viruses, Vol. 13, Pages 2072: Herpes Simplex Virus 1 and 2 Infections during Differentiation of Human Cortical Neurons Viruses doi: 10.3390/v13102072 Authors: Petra Bergström Edward Trybala Charlotta E. Eriksson Maria Johansson Tugce Munise Satir Sibylle Widéhn Stefanie Fruhwürth Wojciech Michno Faisal Hayat Nazir Jörg Hanrieder Soren Riis Paludan Lotta Agholme Henrik Zetterberg Tomas Bergström Herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) and 2 (HSV-2) can infect the central nervous system (CNS) with dire consequences; in children and adults, HSV-1 may cause focal encephalitis, while HSV-2 causes meningitis. In neonates, both viruses can cause severe, disseminated CNS infections with high mortality rates. Here, we differentiated human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) towards cortical neurons for infection with clinical CNS strains of HSV-1 or HSV-2. Progenies from both viruses were produced at equal quantities in iPSCs, neuroprogenitors and cortical neurons. HSV-1 and HSV-2 decreased viability of neuroprogenitors by 36.0% and 57.6% (p < 0.0001), respectively, 48 h post-infection, while cortical neurons were resilient to infection by both viruses. However, in these functional neurons, both HSV-1 and HSV-2 decreased gene expression of two markers of synaptic activity, CAMK2B and ARC, and affected synaptic activity negatively in multielectrode array experiments. However, unaltered secretion levels of the neurodegeneration markers tau and...
Source: Viruses - Category: Virology Authors: Tags: Article Source Type: research