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Infection and Immunity, November 1999, p. 6145-6151, Vol. 67, No. 11
Laboratory for Infection and Immunity,
Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of
Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3E OW3
Received 26 June 1999/Returned for modification 28 July
1999/Accepted 12 August 1999
Chlamydia, especially Chlamydia pneumoniae,
infection is closely associated with human cardiovascular diseases.
Thus far, however, few experimental studies have been carried out to
investigate whether natural C. trachomatis infection can
induce cardiovascular pathological changes. In this article, we report
that pulmonary infection with C. trachomatis mouse
pneumonitis strain (MoPn) can induce myocardial and perivascular
inflammation and fibrosis in C57BL/6 mice. The pulmonary MoPn infection
appeared to be disseminated systemically, because chlamydial antigens
were readily detectable in multiple organs including the cardiovascular
tissues. In addition, gamma interferon gene knockout mice with a
C57BL/6 genetic background showed significant endocarditis and
pancarditis characterized by vegetation in aortic valves, interstitial
and pericardial inflammatory cellular infiltration, and growth of the
organisms in the heart following respiratory tract MoPn infection. The
results indicate that C. trachomatis can induce
cardiovascular diseases following respiratory tract infection and
suggest that murine MoPn respiratory tract infection may be a useful
experimental model for investigating cardiovascular diseases caused by
chlamydial infection.
0019-9567/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Chlamydia trachomatis (Mouse Pneumonitis
Strain) Induces Cardiovascular Pathology following Respiratory
Tract Infection
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Laboratory for
Infection and Immunity, Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of
Medicine, University of Manitoba, Room 523, 730 William Ave., Winnipeg,
Manitoba, Canada R3E OW3. Phone: (204) 789-3481. Fax: (204) 789-3926. E-mail: yangxi{at}cc.umanitoba.ca.
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