TY - JOUR
T1 - Altered Corneal Innervation and Ocular Surface Homeostasis in FHV-1-Exposed Cats
T2 - A Preliminary Study Suggesting Metaherpetic Disease
AU - Sebbag, Lionel
AU - Thomasy, Sara M
AU - Leland, Adriana
AU - Mukai, Madison
AU - Kim, Soohyun
AU - Maggs, David J.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors are grateful to Dr. Christopher Reilly, Dr. Tracy Drazenovich, and Ms. Monica Motta for providing invaluable technical assistance, and to Dr. Michael Lappin for performing FHV-1 serologic testing. Funding. This work was funded by the Center for Companion Animal Health at the University of California-Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and the National Institutes of Health R01 EY01634 (ST).
Publisher Copyright:
© Copyright © 2021 Sebbag, Thomasy, Leland, Mukai, Kim and Maggs.
Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/1/26
Y1 - 2021/1/26
N2 - Metaherpetic disease is recognized in humans affected by herpes simplex virus-1 but is not reported in cats affected by feline herpesvirus-1 (FHV-1) despite the high prevalence of herpetic disease in this species and strong similarities in viral biology between alphaherpesviruses of humans and cats. This preliminary work evaluated cats naïve to FHV-1 (n = 9 cats, 18 eyes; control population) and cats naturally exposed to FHV-1 (n = 4 cats, 7 eyes), as confirmed by serologic testing and review of medical records. Antemortem assessment included clinical scoring, blink rate, corneal aesthesiometry, tear film breakup time (TFBUT), and Schirmer tear test-1 (STT-1) with or without the nasolacrimal reflex. Post-mortem assessment involved confocal microscopy of the corneas and evaluation of corneal nerves with ImageJ. Groups were compared with Student's t-tests and results are presented as mean ± standard deviation. Compared to control, herpetic cats had significantly higher (P ≤ 0.010) clinical scores (0.2 ± 0.4 vs. 4.6 ± 2.8) and response to nasolacrimal stimulation (7.8 ± 10.8% vs. 104.8 ± 151.1%), significantly lower (P < 0.001) corneal sensitivity (2.9 ± 0.6 cm vs. 1.4 ± 0.9 cm), STT-1 (20.8 ± 2.6 mm/min vs. 10.6 ± 6.0 mm/min), TFBUT (12.1 ± 2.0 s vs. 7.1 ± 2.9 s), and non-significantly lower blink rate (3.0 ± 1.5 blinks/min vs. 2.7 ± 0.5 blinks/min; P = 0.751). All parameters evaluated for corneal nerves (e.g., nerve fiber length, branching, occupancy) were notably but not significantly lower in herpetic vs. control cats (P ≥ 0.268). In sum, cats exposed to FHV-1 had signs suggestive of corneal hypoesthesia and quantitative/qualitative tear film deficiencies when compared to cats naïve to the virus. It is possible these are signs of metaherpetic disease as reported in other species.
AB - Metaherpetic disease is recognized in humans affected by herpes simplex virus-1 but is not reported in cats affected by feline herpesvirus-1 (FHV-1) despite the high prevalence of herpetic disease in this species and strong similarities in viral biology between alphaherpesviruses of humans and cats. This preliminary work evaluated cats naïve to FHV-1 (n = 9 cats, 18 eyes; control population) and cats naturally exposed to FHV-1 (n = 4 cats, 7 eyes), as confirmed by serologic testing and review of medical records. Antemortem assessment included clinical scoring, blink rate, corneal aesthesiometry, tear film breakup time (TFBUT), and Schirmer tear test-1 (STT-1) with or without the nasolacrimal reflex. Post-mortem assessment involved confocal microscopy of the corneas and evaluation of corneal nerves with ImageJ. Groups were compared with Student's t-tests and results are presented as mean ± standard deviation. Compared to control, herpetic cats had significantly higher (P ≤ 0.010) clinical scores (0.2 ± 0.4 vs. 4.6 ± 2.8) and response to nasolacrimal stimulation (7.8 ± 10.8% vs. 104.8 ± 151.1%), significantly lower (P < 0.001) corneal sensitivity (2.9 ± 0.6 cm vs. 1.4 ± 0.9 cm), STT-1 (20.8 ± 2.6 mm/min vs. 10.6 ± 6.0 mm/min), TFBUT (12.1 ± 2.0 s vs. 7.1 ± 2.9 s), and non-significantly lower blink rate (3.0 ± 1.5 blinks/min vs. 2.7 ± 0.5 blinks/min; P = 0.751). All parameters evaluated for corneal nerves (e.g., nerve fiber length, branching, occupancy) were notably but not significantly lower in herpetic vs. control cats (P ≥ 0.268). In sum, cats exposed to FHV-1 had signs suggestive of corneal hypoesthesia and quantitative/qualitative tear film deficiencies when compared to cats naïve to the virus. It is possible these are signs of metaherpetic disease as reported in other species.
KW - confocal microscopy
KW - corneal innervation
KW - feline herpesvirus type 1
KW - lacrimal functional unit
KW - metaherpetic disease
KW - nasolacrimal reflex
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U2 - 10.3389/fvets.2020.580414
DO - 10.3389/fvets.2020.580414
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85100967634
VL - 7
JO - Frontiers in Veterinary Science
JF - Frontiers in Veterinary Science
SN - 2297-1769
M1 - 580414
ER -