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© The Rockefeller University Press, 0021-9525/2002/9/1153 $5.00
The Journal of Cell Biology, Volume 158, Number 7, September 30, 2002 1153-1153

Herpes spoils excitement

HSV-1 infection (bottom) prompts a loss of sodium channels (green).

People infected with the cold sore–causing herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) often complain of abnormal sensations around the site of initial infection, a symptom apparently caused by the virus's ability to reduce the excitability of infected neurons. On page 1251, Storey et al. describe the molecular mechanism responsible for this phenomenon. Their findings may also be relevant to the normal rearrangements of voltage-dependent sodium channels that occur during neuronal development.

The authors found that neurons from the rat dorsal root ganglion show a profound and rapid loss of voltage-dependent sodium currents 24 h after infection with HSV-1. Loss of excitability in these neurons correlates with the loss of sodium channels from the cell surface. Blocking endocytosis or preventing the production of HSV-1 late proteins prevents the loss of excitability, and a mutant virus lacking the neuro-virulence factor ICP 34.5 does not cause the loss of sodium channels seen in wild-type viral infections.Previous work has shown that HSV-1 modifies the ubiquitin–proteasome pathway, leading to the destruction of many cellular proteins, and this may also explain the internalization of sodium channels. If the virus is tapping into a normal cellular pathway, then the same ubiquitin–proteasome pathway may also explain the rapid disappearance of sodium channels at nodes of Ranvier during development.

Alan W. Dove

alanwdove{at}earthlink.net

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Selective internalization of sodium channels in rat dorsal root ganglion neurons infected with herpes simplex virus-1

Nina Storey, David Latchman, and Stuart Bevan
J. Cell Biol. 2002 158: 1251-1262. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

This Article Full Text (PDF, 294K) PPT slides of all figures Alert me when this article is cited Services Email this article Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new content in the JCB Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via CrossRef Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Dove, A. W. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Dove, A. W. Related Collections Related Article Social Bookmarking                            What's this?