Characterisation of murine cytomegalovirus myocarditis: Cellular infiltration of the heart and virus persistence

Abstract

Myocarditis triggered by a viral infection has integral viral and immunological aspects associated with the pathogenesis of disease. The present study was performed to analyse the cellular inflammatory response in the heart and cytomegalovirus replication during the development of myocarditis in vivo. We examined murine cytomegalovirus in an animal model of myocarditis using both susceptible BALB/c and resistant C57BL/6 mice. The heart infiltrating cells of BALB/c mice were found to comprise predominantly CD8+ T cells, with other cells of the CD4+ T cell, macrophage, B cell and neutrophil phenotype. Infectious MCMV titres in the heart were low and replicative virus could not be isolated beyo..