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Eileen M. Burd, PhD; Jose S. Pulido, MD, MS; Donald G. Puro, MD, PhD; William J. O'Brien, PhD

Arch Ophthalmol. 1996;114(7):856-861.

Abstract
Objectives
To characterize the molecular structure of the human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) DNA maintained in cultures of human retinal glia following ganciclovir treatment and to determine the biological activity of the DNA.

Methods
Cultures of human retinal glia were established, infected with HCMV, treated with ganciclovir, and embedded in agarose, and the viral DNA was analyzed by field inversion gel electrophoresis.

Results
The HCMV DNA was found to persist in cultures of infected, ganciclovir-treated retinal glial cells in the form of replicative intermediates. After removal of ganciclovir, processed forms of DNA in the 500- to 1000-kilobase range were found as well as 230-kb unit length genome. Infectious virus was recovered after termination of ganciclovir treatment.

Conclusion
The data are consistent with the concept that ganciclovir's virostatic nature permits maintenance of HCMV DNA in retinal glia in a biologically active form that is capable of replication after removal of the drug.

Author Affiliations
From the Department of Ophthalmology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee (Drs Burd, Pulido, and O'Brien); the Department of Pathology, Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, Mich (Dr Burd); and the Departments of Ophthalmology and Physiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (Dr Puro). The authors have no financial interest and received no consultant fees for products described in this article.

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