Syncytia formation has been considered important for cell-to-cell spread and pathogenesis of many viruses. As a syncytium forms, individual nuclei often congregate together, allowing close contact of nuclear membranes and possibly fusion to occur. However, there is currently no reported evidence of nuclear membrane fusion between adjacent nuclei in wild-type virus-induced syncytia. Varicella-zoster virus (VZV) is one typical syncytia-inducing virus that causes chickenpox and shingles in humans. Here, we report, for the first time, an interesting observation of apparent fusion of the outer nuclear membranes from juxtaposed nuclei that comprise VZV syncytia both in ARPE-19 human epithelial cells in vitro and in human skin xenografts in the SCID-hu mouse model in vivo. This work reveals a novel aspect of VZV-related cytopathic effect in the context of multinucleated syncytia. Additionally, the information provided by this study could be helpful for future studies on interactions of viruses with host cell nuclei.

合胞体形成被认为对许多病毒的细胞间传播和发病机理很重要。随着合胞体的形成，各个原子核通常会聚在一起，从而使核膜紧密接触并可能发生融合。但是，目前尚无关于野生型病毒诱发的合胞体中相邻核之间核膜融合的证据。水痘带状疱疹病毒（VZV）是一种典型的合胞体诱导病毒，可导致人类出现水痘和带状疱疹。在这里，我们首次报告了一个有趣的观察结果，即在体外ARPE-19人上皮细胞中以及在SCID-hu小鼠模型中的人皮肤异种移植物中，包含VZV合胞体的并置核的并列外核膜明显融合体内。这项工作揭示了在多核合胞体的背景下VZV相关的细胞病变效应的一个新方面。此外，这项研究提供的信息可能有助于将来研究病毒与宿主细胞核的相互作用。