Cardiovascular lipid accumulation with Coxsackie B virus infection in mice.
The authors used a myocarditic coxsackievirus B3 infection in Balb/c mice to investigate cardiovascular lipid accumulation and whether a cholesterol-enriched diet influences the development of the myocardial inflammatory reaction. It was found that, seven days after CB3 infection, the accumulation of 14C-cholesterol increased by 75% (P less than 0.001) in the heart and by 92% (P less than 0.001) in the aorta. This infection also caused extensive inflammatory lesions (4.5% of tissue section area) and lipid accumulation in the myocardium seven days after inoculation. Seven weeks on a 1% cholesterol-enriched diet did not affect the myocardial area damaged (3.9%), the lethality, or immune cell activity (T, B, and natural killer [NK] cells). The response pattern of myocardial lymphocyte subpopulations was studied with an immune histochemical staining technique. The number of Mac 2+ (macrophages), class II expressing cells, or the T cytotoxic, suppressor/T helper cell ratio was not changed by the cholesterol diet. The number of class II cells tended to increase (38%) with cholesterol and was positively correlated (P less than 0.001) with the Mac 2 expression regardless of the cholesterol diet. Although moderate diet-induced hypercholesterolemia did not alter host response to viral infection, these results support the idea that virus and immune cells may cooperate and play a role in arterial and myocardial lipid accumulation, possibly acting as initiating factors for atherosclerosis.
Ilbäck
N G
NG
Toxicology Lab, Swedish National Food Administration, Uppsala.
Mohammed
A
A
Fohlman
J
J
Friman
G
G
D000818:Animals; D002319:Cardiovascular System / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism; D003384:Coxsackievirus Infections / Q000378:metabolism*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D029822:Enterovirus B, Human / Q000302:isolation & purification; D005260:Female; D006321:Heart / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000382:microbiology; D050356:Lipid Metabolism; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D009205:Myocarditis / Q000378:metabolism / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D009206:Myocardium / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology
D002784:Cholesterol