HERPESVIRUS-INFECTION ENHANCES CHOLESTEROL AND CHOLESTERYL ESTER ACCUMULATION IN CULTURED ARTERIAL SMOOTH-MUSCLE CELLS

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  • 1 January 1981
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 105  (2) , 176-184
Abstract
Atherosclerosis similar to that in humans was reproducibly induced in both normocholesterolemic and hypercholesterolemic specific-pathogen-free (SPF) chickens by infection with Marek''s disease herpesvirus (MDV). Uninfected chickens fed either relatively cholesterol-poor or cholesterol-supplemented diets did not develop this arterial disease. The hypothesis that infection of arterial smooth muscle cells (SMC) with MDV would enhance lipid accumulation in these cells was tested. The number of MDV-infected SMC with lipid stained with oil red O was assessed and the lipid content of these cells was quantitated chemically by chromatographic and fluorometric analyses. These data were compared to those of uninfected control cells and, in the case of chemical analyses, were also compared to SMC infected with a 2nd avian herpesvirus, turkey herpesvirus (HVT). The percentage of MDV-infected SMC containing stainable lipid was significantly greater than the percentage of uninfected SMC. Increased total lipid accumulation was observed in MDV-infected SMC, particularly cholesterol (CH) and cholesteryl esters (CE), as compared with uninfected or HVT-infected cells. The types of CE and nonesterified fatty acids (NEFA) accumulating in MDV-infected cells (particularly saturated types of CE and NEFA) were significantly different than those in uninfected or HVT-infected SMC. These qualitative and quantitative differences in lipid content between infected and uninfected SMC suggest that infection with MDV results in altered intracellular lipid metabolism. Lipid accumulation in arteries of normocholesterolemic chickens may result from MDV infection acting at the cellular level to induce lipid accumulation that resembles that in human atheroarteriosclerosis.