title: Suppression by dietary alcohol of resistance to Cryptosporidium during murine acquired immune deficiency syndrome.
abstract: Significant immunological changes occur following LP-BM5 murine leukemia retrovirus infection as well as chronic alcohol consumption. Retrovirus infection which has proceeded to murine AIDS permitted persistent Cryptosporidium infection, while non-retrovirus infected mice were resistant. Dietary alcohol provided until the day before parasite challenge did not affect resistance in controls, but increased the numbers of oocysts in the feces of retrovirus suppressed mice. Mortality was significant in retrovirus infected mice, and exacerbated slightly by dietary ethanol, while all controls survived parasite challenge. The retrovirus infected mice had greatly reduced numbers of intestinal CD4+ T helper cells and IgA+ B cells, which may explain their loss of intestinal resistance. Clearly, the severely immunosuppressed animals with murine AIDS were more sensitive to alcohol consumption than uninfected controls. This suggests that alcohol can synergize with murine retrovirus infection to exacerbate loss of resistance to an opportunistic pathogen common in human AIDS patients.
authors.affiliation: Tuskegee University, AL.
authors.forename: J I
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Alak
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shahbazian
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Darban
authors.forename: R R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Watson
authors.forename: E M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Jenkins
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003457:Cryptosporidiosis / Q000150:complications / Q000276:immunology* / Q000469:parasitology; D003458:Cryptosporidium / Q000254:growth & development / Q000302:isolation & purification; D000431:Ethanol / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005243:Feces / Q000469:parasitology; D005260:Female; D007113:Immunity, Innate / Q000187:drug effects*; D007422:Intestines / Q000469:parasitology; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D016183:Murine Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000150:complications* / Q000276:immunology; D012190:Retroviridae
chemical_list: D000431:Ethanol