title: Porphyromonas gingivalis accelerates atherosclerosis in C57BL/6 mice fed a high-fat diet.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Porphyromonas gingivalis has been shown to accelerate atherosclerotic lesion development in atherosclerotic apo E-deficient mice. Here, we investigated whether repeated P. gingivalis injection affected the inflammatory and atherosclerotic responses of C57BL/6 mice fed a high-fat diet (HFD).
  
  
  METHODS
  Eight-week-old C57BL/6 mice fed either HFD or a regular chow diet (RD) were inoculated intravenously with P. gingivalis or phosphate-buffered saline three times per week for 10 weeks and sacrificed at 19 weeks of age. Atheromatous lesions in the proximal aorta of each animal were analyzed histomorphometrically, and the serum cytokine and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels were determined.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Long-term HFD feeding as compared to RD feeding led to a slight increase in atheromatous lesions in the aortic sinus as well as increases in the levels of serum monocyte chemoattractant protein 1. Further, P. gingivalis injection significantly enhanced the formation of atherosclerotic plaque, and increased CRP and inflammatory cytokine levels, in mice fed the HFD, although no further increase in LDL was observed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest that bacteremia-induced by repeated injection with P. gingivalis accelerates atherosclerosis in normal C57BL/6 mice by initiating inflammation, and is therefore implicated in chronic infection-related pathogenicity.
authors: Department of Oral Surgery, Nihon University School of Dentistry at Matsudo, Chiba, Japan.
authors: Asuka
authors: A
authors: Fukasawa
authors: Tomoko
authors: T
authors: Kurita-Ochiai
authors: Tomomi
authors: T
authors: Hashizume
authors: Ryoki
authors: R
authors: Kobayashi
authors: Yoshiaki
authors: Y
authors: Akimoto
authors: Masafumi
authors: M
authors: Yamamoto
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D050197:Atherosclerosis / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000276:immunology* / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology; D016866:Bacteroidaceae Infections / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D004041:Dietary Fats / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000494:pharmacology; D005260:Female; D051379:Mice; D058226:Plaque, Atherosclerotic / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000276:immunology* / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology; D016966:Porphyromonas gingivalis / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D004041:Dietary Fats