title: Correlation between natural killer cell activation in the bone marrow and haemopoietic dysfunction following cytomegalovirus infection of mice.
abstract: We describe here the activation of natural killer (NK) cells in the bone marrows and spleens of mice infected with murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV). NK activity at these sites peaked at day 2 to 3 post-infection (p.i.) and declined between days 6 and 10 p.i. in BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice. In BALB/c mice, the increases in NK activity coincided with depletion of colony-forming units of the granulocyte-monocyte lineage (CFU-GM) from the marrow. CFU-GM depletion in MCMV-infected C57BL/6 mice was less severe, despite the presence of activated NK cells in the marrow. Treatment of BALB/c mice with anti-asialo GM1 prior to MCMV infection resulted in less severe CFU-GM depletion at day 2 p.i. than infection with MCMV alone. When homozygous C57BL/6 or CBA/CaH bg/bg mice were infected with MCMV, depletion of marrow CFU-GM was more severe than in their heterozygous littermates. Finally, we observed some inhibition of colony formation when marrow cells from MCMV-infected and uninfected BALB/c donors were mixed and incubated prior to the CFU-GM assay. These results suggest that activated NK cells may contribute to depletion of haemopoietic cells soon after MCMV infection of BALB/c mice, but may limit the loss of these cells in C57BL/6 and CBA/CaH mice.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, University of Western Australia, Nedlands, Australia.
authors.forename: A E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Gibbons
authors.forename: G R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Shellam
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Price
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000276:immunology*; D003586:Cytomegalovirus Infections / Q000276:immunology*; D003602:Cytotoxicity, Immunologic; D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000276:immunology; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000276:immunology*; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008808:Mice, Inbred CBA; D013045:Species Specificity; D013154:Spleen / Q000276:immunology*