Infection with chlamydia pneumoniae increases oxidative stress and accelerates the development of atherosclerosis in C57BL/6J mice / 中华心血管病杂志

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the effects of Chlamydia pneumoniae infection on oxidative stress and the development of atherosclerosis in C57BL/6J mice.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Forty-eight C57BL/6J mice were divided into 4 groups including infection of CP and cholesterol diet, cholesterol diet, infection of CP and control. Atherosclerotic lesions were measured in the aortic root at 40 weeks after the primary infection. Production of superoxide was measured by lucigenin-enhanced chemiluminescence response and evaluated in situ with laser scanning confocal microscope.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Infected mice fed with an atherogenic diet developed significantly larger lesion areas compared with the single atherogenic diet mice (135 249 +/- 43 748 microm2 vs. 96 378 +/- 30 945 microm2, P < 0.05). Superoxide generation was higher in aortic arches of the infected mice or atherogenic diet mice compared with the control mice (1974.25 +/- 650.49, 701.00 +/- 105.16, 455.62 +/- 77.54 counts.mg(-1).min(-1) vs. 142.25 +/- 31.82 counts.mg(-1).min(-1), respectively, P < 0.001).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Chlamydia pneumoniae infection accelerates atherosclerotic lesion development in diet-induced hypercholesterolemic mice. Generation of reactive oxygen species may contribute to atherosclerotic development by Chlamydia pneumoniae infection.</p>