Early acute depletion of lymphocytes in calicivirus-infected adult rabbits |
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Authors: | Raquel M Marques António Costa-e-Silva Artur P Águas Luzia Teixeira Paula G Ferreira |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Anatomy, ICBAS (Abel Salazar Institute for Biomedical Science) and UMIB (Unit for Multidisciplinary Biomedical Research), University of Porto, Largo Professor Abel Salazar, 2, 4099-003 Porto, Portugal, European Union |
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Abstract: | Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease (RHD) is a lethal infection caused by calicivirus that kills 90% of the infected adult rabbits
within 3 days. The calicivirus replicates in the liver and causes a fulminant hepatitis. Most studies on the pathology of
RHD have been focused on the fulminant liver disease. This may not be the only mechanism in the pathogenesis of RHD: calicivirus
infection may also induce leukopenia in the infected adult rabbits. We show now by flow cytometry analysis that the calicivirus
induces an early decrease in B and T cells, in both spleen and liver. The depletion of B and T cells was associated with apoptosis
labelled by annexin V. These changes occurred in rabbits before they showed enzymatic evidence of liver damage and persisted
after liver transaminase values were very high. We conclude that depletion of lymphocytes caused by the calicivirus infection
precedes or attends liver damage. The relative contribution of this lymphocyte depletion for the pathogenesis of the fatal
calicivirus infection of rabbits remains to be investigated. |
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