Autophagy in cultured murine neurons infected with equid herpesvirus 1.

Abstract

In this study we investigated the relationship of equid herpesvirus 1 (EHV-1) infection to autophagy in primary culture of murine neurons. Infection with both Jan-E and Rac-H strains of EHV-1 resulted in the formation of autophagosomes in the cytoplasm during early stages of infection, while in late stages of infection autophagosomes were mainly concentrated around the nucleus what suggests the induction of nuclear envelope-derived autophagy (NEDA). No significant effect of an authophagy inhibitor-chloroquine on final virus titers demonstrated that autophagy is not essential for EHV-1 replication.