| Popis: |
Intraperitoneal (i. p.) inoculation of several strains of mice with myocarditic strains of coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) induces focal lesions in the myocardium [7, 9, 18, 41–43]. Within hours of virus inoculation, virus appears in the blood [24] and remains in the plasma phase over the next 2–3 days [1, 8]. Virus is also associated with circulating leukocytes [6, 13]. During this period, virus enters the myocardium and replicates in unidentified cells. Histologic examination of heart tissues during this prelesion period reveals single and multiple foci of necrotic myocytes [17]. Beginning on day 4 postinoculation (p. i.), lesion formation is detected in the myocardium of CVB3-inoculated CD-1 mice [11]. The initial cells detected in the nascent lesion were macrophages, T suppressor/cytotoxic lymphocytes, and natural killer cells. T helper lymphocytes were detected 1 day later. At no time during the 4–10 day (p. i.) period were cells producing viral antigens [11] or viral RNA (N. M. Chapman, S. M. Tracy, and C. J. Gauntt, unpublished data) detected in nascent or developing lesions. The data suggest that virus infection of a cell (or cells) in the myocardium initiates a series of events that induce a focal inflammatory response. |
