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Viruses in human brains: a search for cytomegalovirus and herpes virus 1 DNA in necropsy tissue from normal and neuropsychiatric cases

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

G. R. Taylor  and
T. J. Crow
G. R. Taylor*
Affiliation:
Division of Psychiatry, Clinical Research Centre, Harrow, Middlesex
T. J. Crow
Affiliation:
Division of Psychiatry, Clinical Research Centre, Harrow, Middlesex
*
1 Address for correspondence: Dr G. R. Taylor, Division of Psychiatry, Clinical Research Centre, Watford Road, Harrow, Middlesex HA1 3UJ.
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Synopsis

DNA was extracted from the brains of patients with Alzheimer-type dementia, schizophrenia, Huntington's chorea and from patients without neurological disease, and examined for the presence of herpes simplex virus type 1 and human cytomegalovirus sequences. By selecting cloned virus DNA fragments which do not hybridize to normal human DNA we were able to achieve a detection level assessed on reconstruction experiments of 1 virus genome per 50 cells. Screening at such sensitivity did not detect virus sequences in the higher CNS, except in cases of encephalitis or immunosuppression. We conclude that, at this level of sensitivity, these viruses cannot be regarded as normal residents of the higher CNS, and at the time of death they do not appear to be associated with these neuropsychiatric conditions.

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 16 , Issue 2 , May 1986 , pp. 289 - 295
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1986

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