INCLUSION BODIES IN EXPERIMENTAL HERPETIC INFECTION OF RABBITS

Abstract

We have thus far failed to observe any inclusion bodies in herpetic lesions which in our opinion may properly be interpreted as microorganisms. Concerning the exact nature of the granules so fully reported by others before us, we hesitate to commit ourselves other than to indicate certain points of resemblance to nuclear débris, red blood cells in the process of phagocytosis, mitochondria, pigment, the "methylene blue granules" of neuroglia cells, and the Russell bodies of plasma cells. Obviously, the fact that the individual granules in a section stain in the same way by Giemsa's method, or the technique of Borrel, and look alike is no good reason to suppose that they are of the same composition. We suspect that several of our methods of staining depend more upon physical forces than upon the actual chemical constitution of the substances which become colored. So that granules which stain alike may not only differ in composition but may also have been recruited from different sources. This fact makes inferential chemical analysis extremely difficult since it is next to impossible to superpose all our reactions upon a single granule of microscopic size. Consequently, if we apply one microchemical test to a group of granules, another test to another group, and so on, we cannot be sure that we have been dealing throughout with the same substance or substances. It is our belief that the inclusions which are so abundant in herpetic lesions do not represent a concrete class of granulations sui generis but that they are of variable composition and are derived from several sources.