title: Chlamydia pneumoniae infection accelerates hyperlipidemia induced atherosclerotic lesion development in C57BL/6J mice.
abstract: Considerable evidence of an association between Chlamydia pneumoniae infections and cardiovascular disease has emerged. Animal models using genetically altered mice and hypercholesterolemic rabbits have shown a pathogenic role of C. pneumoniae in accelerating atherosclerotic plaque development. In the present study, we evaluated the effect of chronic C. pneumoniae infection on atherosclerosis in C57BL/6J mice, fed either a regular chow diet or a high fat, high cholesterol diet. Infected animals on an atherogenic diet developed significantly larger lesion areas compared with control mice at 18 weeks (2.5-fold increase; 4177+/-777 vs. 1650+/-808 microm(2); P<0.05) and 24 weeks of age (3.3-fold increase; 14139+/-4147 vs. 4298+/-869 microm(2); P<0.02). This study shows that chronic C. pneumoniae infection accelerates atherosclerotic lesion development in diet induced hypercholesterolemic mice, indicating that C. pneumoniae is a co-risk factor of hyperlipidemia in atherogenesis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathobiology, University of Washington, Box 357238, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Blessing
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Campbell
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Rosenfeld
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Chough
authors.forename: C C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Kuo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001011:Aorta; D001161:Arteriosclerosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology*; D002690:Chlamydia Infections / Q000150:complications*; D016993:Chlamydophila pneumoniae; D002791:Cholesterol, Dietary / Q000008:administration & dosage; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004036:Diet, Atherogenic; D018450:Disease Progression; D006949:Hyperlipidemias / Q000150:complications*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D012307:Risk Factors
chemical_list: D002791:Cholesterol, Dietary