In a mouse model for herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) latency in which the virus was inoculated via the eye after corneal scarification, HSV-1 replicated in corneal epithelial cells and infected the nerve cell endings. HSV-1 reached the trigeminal ganglia by fast axonal transport between 2 and 10 days postinfection (p.i.) and established a latent infection in neuronal cells or replicated and spread to nonneuronal cells. By using in situ hybridization, we showed that cellular transcription factors are stimulated by HSV-1 infection in trigeminal ganglia. This stimulation is biphasic, peaking at 1 and 3 to 4 days p.i. The first peak involves c-jun and oct-1 expression in neurons, and the second involves c-jun, c-fos, and oct-1 expression in neurons and nonneuronal cells. Corneal scarification, alone or followed by infection with UV-inactivated HSV-1, induced monophasic c-jun and oct-1 expression in some neurons of the trigeminal ganglia, with a peak at 1 day p.i. Corneal infection without prior scarification induced c-jun, c-fos, and oct-1 expression in some neuronal and nonneuronal cells of the trigeminal ganglia 2 to 9 days p.i. Explanation of ganglia from latently infected animals resulted in reactivation of the latent virus. Independently of the presence of latent HSV-1 in explanted ganglia, expression of c-fos, c-jun, and oct-1 was induced first in nonneuronal cells, peaking 6 to 10 h postexplantation, and then in neuronal cells, with a peak at 24 h after explantation when expression of viral replicative genes was first detectable. Since ocular HSV-1 infection, corneal scarification, and explantation of trigeminal ganglia all resulted in induction of expression of cellular transcription factors in ganglia, these factors may play a critical role in the permissiveness of cells for HSV-1 replication during acute infection, latency, and reactivation.