Some Biochemical Aspects of Herpes Infection.

Abstract

Herpes simplex virus was inoculated on the chorioal-lantoic membrane of eggs. The viral infected hearts and livers were removed after 3 days. The moist wts. of liver and heart were 42 and 34% greater, respectively, than those of the organs of normal embryos. After inoculation with herpes there was found an increase in the number of cells, in the dry wt., and in the total protein of these infected organs. This accelerated growth rate occurred despite the fact that the total wt. of the infected embryo was decidedly less than that of the normal. The infected hearts had 27% less succinoxidase activity per unit of moist wt. than the control tissues. The alpha-ketoglutaric oxidase activity of infected heart and liver was lower than that of the normal organs by 21 and 29%, respectively. One of the most striking changes accompanying the herpetic infection is the accelerated rate of nucleic acid synthesis. The total nucleic acid of the herpetic liver when calculated on the basis of the total dry wt. is 70% above normal. There is no appreciable change in the ratio of desoxyribonucleic acid to pentosenucleic acid.