title: Histopathological Characteristics of Post-inflamed Coronary Arteries in Kawasaki Disease-like Vasculitis of Rabbits.
abstract: Kawasaki disease (KD) is a systemic vasculitis in infants that develops predominantly in the coronary arteries. Despite the clinically transient nature of active inflammation in childhood albeit rare complications (e.g., coronary artery aneurysm), KD has recently been suggested to increase the incidence of ischemic heart diseases in young adulthood. However, little is known about the histopathology of the coronary artery long after development of the acute KD vasculitis. To address this, we conducted histological studies of rabbit coronary arteries in adolescent phase after induction of the KD-like vasculitis induced by horse serum administration. After a transmural infiltration of inflammatory cells in acute phase at day 7, the artery exhibited a gradual decrease in the number of inflammatory cells and thickening of the intima during the chronic phase up to day 90, where proteoglycans were distinctly accumulated in the intima with abundant involvement of α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA)-positive cells, most of which accompanied expression of VCAM-1 and NF-κB. Distinct from classical atherosclerosis, inflammatory cells, e.g., macrophages, were barely detected during the chronic phase. These observations indicate that the KD-like coronary arteritis is followed by intimal thickening via accumulation of proteoglycans and proliferation of α-SMA-positive cells, reflecting aberrant coronary artery remodeling.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Cell Regulation, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine Graduate School of Medical Science; Department of Pediatric Cardiology and Nephrology, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine Graduate School of Medical Science, Kyoto, Japan.
authors.forename: Maiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fujii
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Cell Regulation, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine Graduate School of Medical Science.
authors.forename: Hideo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Cardiology and Nephrology, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine Graduate School of Medical Science , Kyoto, Japan.
authors.forename: Akihiro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Cardiology and Nephrology, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine Graduate School of Medical Science , Kyoto, Japan.
authors.forename: Chinatsu
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Cell Regulation, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine Graduate School of Medical Science.
authors.forename: Yoshinori
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Harada
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Cell Regulation, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine Graduate School of Medical Science.
authors.forename: Tetsuro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Takamatsu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Cardiology and Nephrology, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine Graduate School of Medical Science , Kyoto, Japan.
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hamaoka
keywords: Kawasaki disease; animal model; coronary artery; proteoglycans; vascular smooth muscle cells