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Biomedical subjects

G B Baskin

Publications and source records attributed to G B Baskin.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

Thymus in simian immunodeficiency virus-infected rhesus monkeys.

The thymuses from 20 simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV)-infected and 4 uninfected rhesus monkeys were examined at intervals after infection to determine whether there were specific SIV-induced lesions, to document the serial distribution of SIV antigens, mRNA, and DNA, to quantitate the number of infected cells, and to correlate thymic changes with other parameters of infection. The following techniques were used: gross pathology, histopathology, immunohistochemistry, electron microscopy, in situ hybridization, polymerase chain reaction, and limiting dilution culture. Thymic involution due to loss of lymphocytes was apparent 8 weeks after inoculation. No epithelial damage or loss of Hassall's corpuscles was observed. Culture was the most sensitive technique for detecting SIV, being positive in 19 of 20 inoculated monkeys. The polymerase chain reaction was negative in one thymus that was positive at a low level by culture. In situ hybridization was positive in 14 of 19 thymuses examined, with a few macrophages in the cortex having a strong signal and numerous lymphocytes in the medulla having a weak signal. Mature viral particles and viral budding could not be demonstrated by electron microscopy. The number of cells positive for viral RNA by in situ hybridization correlated with the level of serum antigenemia. These observations suggest that thymic macrophages and lymphocytes are infected with SIV within 2 weeks after inoculation. SIV apparently directly causes loss of thymic lymphocytes and immunodeficiency without infecting or damaging the thymic epithelium. No specific SIV-induced lesions were recognized. The number of cells in the thymic medulla expressing SIV RNA correlates with the level of serum antigen, which has been previously shown to be correlated with disease progression.

Animals↗

Serial pathogenesis study of SIV brain infection.

A serial study of early SIV brain infection revealed initial involvement of leptomeninges, followed by perivascular infection of brain parenchyma. Severity of SIV encephalitis correlated with severity of systemic disease rather than with length of infection. Diffuse white matter disease was not observed, and there was little evidence of SIV infection of brain endothelial cells. SIV infection of leptomeninges is separate from infection of the brain, which appears to be due to transvascular spread of infected monocytes/macrophages.

Animals↗

Liver disease in rhesus monkeys infected with simian immunodeficiency virus.

Rhesus monkeys infected with simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) develop a syndrome very similar to patients with acquired immune deficiency (AIDS), including liver disease. This prospective study was undertaken to define the pathology, course, and pathogenesis of liver disease in 20 rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) after intravenous inoculation with the standardized isolate SIV/DeltaB670. Tissue samples from liver and gallbladder between 2 and 24 weeks after inoculation were examined histologically and immunohistochemically for SIV gag protein p26, and by in situ hybridization with an SIV riboprobe. Histologically there was infiltration of portal tracts and around hepatic veins and venules by mononuclear inflammatory cells, focal bile duct damage, proliferation of bile ductules, and focal lobular inflammation as early as 2 weeks after infection. The severity and extent of these lesions were graded semiquantitatively and showed that bile duct damage and hepatic venulitis were the most significant changes. Simian immunodeficiency virus gag protein p26 and SIV RNA were detected in scattered mononuclear cells in portal tracts and sinusoids, but not in hepatocytes or bile duct epithelial cells. The data indicate that the liver is involved early during the course of SIV infection, followed by persistent changes until the terminal stage of the disease. Our findings suggest that the liver damage in SIV-infected rhesus monkeys is similar to the changes observed previously in AIDS patients.

Animals↗

Pathology of dual Mycobacterium leprae and simian immunodeficiency virus infection in rhesus monkeys.

Three rhesus monkeys were experimentally inoculated with sooty-mangabey-derived Mycobacterium leprae and were inadvertently infected with the simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) as well. They died of an immunodeficiency syndrome, and at autopsy all had lesions caused by M. leprae. One monkey was inoculated twice with M. leprae, initially with an inoculum from a sooty mangabey that was not infected with SIV and, subsequently, with an inoculum from a mangabey that was SIV infected. The monkey did not develop clinical lesions and became strongly lepromin skin test (LST) positive after the first inoculation, but became infected with both agents and LST negative following the second inoculation. These observations suggest that SIV-infected rhesus monkeys have an increased susceptibility to M. leprae infection and, by analogy, imply that HIV-infected human beings may have an increased susceptibility as well.

Animals↗

A formalin-inactivated whole SIV vaccine confers protection in macaques.

A vaccine against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) would be highly effective in stopping the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) epidemic. A comprehensive evaluation of potential vaccine methodologies can be made by means of the simian model for AIDS, which takes advantage of the similarities in viral composition and disease potential between simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) infection of rhesus macaques and HIV infection in humans. Immunization with a formalin-inactivated whole SIV vaccine potentiated with either alum and the Syntex adjuvant threonyl muramyl dipeptide (MDP) or MDP alone resulted in the protection of eight of nine rhesus monkeys challenged with ten animal-infectious doses of pathogenic virus. These results demonstrate that a whole virus vaccine is highly effective in inducing immune responses that can protect against lentivirus infection and AIDS-like disease.

Acetylmuramyl-Alanyl-Isoglutamine↗

Interactions between simian immunodeficiency virus and Mycobacterium leprae in experimentally inoculated rhesus monkeys.

Thirty-four rhesus monkeys were inoculated with Mycobacterium leprae inoculum isolated from sooty mangabey monkeys with leprosy. Later it was learned that one of the M. leprae-donor mangabeys was asymptomatically infected with simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV). Thus, five of the rhesus monkey were coinoculated with M. leprae and SIV. Three of the five became SIV-positive and developed signs of leprosy and an AIDS-like illness. Two animals remained healthy. The coinoculated leprosy-positive rhesus monkeys developed leprosy despite serologic response patterns to M. leprae antigens that usually indicate leprosy resistance. Three (60%) of the five SIV-positive rhesus monkeys developed leprosy compared with 21% of the animals who received SIV-free M. leprae inocula. Diminished lepromin skin test responses and decreasing T-helper cell percentages were observed in SIV-coinoculated rhesus monkeys with leprosy. These observations suggest that SIV increases the susceptibility of rhesus monkeys to leprosy, possibly related to loss of T-helper cell function.

Animals↗

Comparison of simian immunodeficiency virus and human immunodeficiency virus encephalitides in the immature host.

The simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) is closely related to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in genomic organization and morphology. More important, SIV and HIV are both primate lentiviruses that cause transmissible immunodeficiency and encephalitis, with an apparently increased virulence in the immature host. The neuropathological features in common between SIV encephalitis in juvenile macaque monkeys and HIV encephalitis in children include the invasion of brain with virus-laden macrophages, the formation of multinucleated (syncytial) giant cells, and white matter lesions and subtle white matter astrocytosis. Important differences include giant cell leptomeningitis and evidence of necrosis and karyorrhexis in brain macrophage infiltrates in SIV-infected monkeys. These changes probably represent a more acute inflammatory process. The importance of future studies to define pathogenetic features of SIV encephalitis, using molecularly characterized isolates with varying neurovirulence and host range, are emphasized.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

Tumorigenic potential of a myc-containing strain of feline leukemia virus in vivo in domestic cats.

The oncogenic capacity of a myc-containing strain of feline leukemia virus (FeLV), termed LC-FeLV, has been examined after inoculation of the virus into neonatal kittens. Like other myc-containing strains of FeLV, LC-FeLV may induce with relatively short latency, but does not necessarily induce, thymic lymphosarcoma in viremic animals. Naturally occurring and experimentally induced tumors are T-cell lymphomas which contain clonally integrated LC-FeLV proviral DNA and which cannot readily be cultivated in vitro in the presence or absence of exogenously supplied interleukin-2. Acquisition of myc by FeLV decreases the period of latency before the appearance of tumors but does not expand the spectrum of tumors induced by FeLV alone.

Animals↗

Necropsy findings in rhesus monkeys experimentally infected with cultured simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV)/delta.

Lesions induced in rhesus monkeys by different isolates of simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV)/Delta were studied at necropsy. Four groups of monkeys were inoculated with SIV/Delta isolated from other experimentally infected rhesus monkeys, while one group was inoculated with SIV/Delta from an asymptomatic mangabey monkey. Three rhesus isolates and the mangabey isolate were virulent, killing 75-100% of infected monkeys. One rhesus isolate, which had been extensively passaged in vitro, was attenuated but was restored to virulence by single animal passage. Clinically, infected monkeys had lymphadenopathy, splenomegaly, diarrhea, and a rash. Most monkeys died of enteric disease. The following lesions were seen: weight loss, thymic atrophy, lymphoid atrophy, bone marrow hyperplasia, encephalitis, colitis, amyloidosis, hepatitis, glomerulosclerosis, and the presence of syncytial cells. One Rh Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-related lymphoma occurred. Opportunistic agents were identified: cytomegalovirus, adenovirus, Cryptosporidia, and Pneumocystis. Shigella and Campylobacter often caused colitis.

Animals↗

Histopathological changes in the eyes of mangabey monkeys with lepromatous leprosy.

Leprosy is the third leading cause of preventable blindness; however, little is known about the spread of infection to the eye. We have studied the eyes of three sooty managabey monkeys. Two were experimentally infected with Mycobacterium leprae; the third was not infected. In one of the infected animals there was histopathological evidence of lepromatous leprosy as evidenced by a chronic inflammatory infiltrate at the limbus, and detection of acid-fast bacilli in the corneal stroma, blood vessel walls, and corneal nerves. The latter were damaged as a result of the bacillary invasion. Electron microscopy revealed involvement and distortion of keratocytes with M. leprae and invasion of the corneal stroma by macrophages containing bacilli. Both infected animals showed focal collections of lymphocytes in the superficial stroma of the conjunctiva and in the ciliary body. This is the first report of the ocular manifestations of leprosy in any primate, including man, in which the duration of infection is known.

Animals↗

Multidrug chemotherapy of tuberculosis in rhesus monkeys.

Occurrence of tuberculosis caused by Mycobacterium bovis in a colony of rhesus monkeys allowed evaluation of a modern multidrug therapeutic regimen. Fifteen tuberculin positive rhesus monkeys with disseminated tuberculosis were evaluated for extent of disease by radiographic techniques, physical examination and laparotomy prior to treatment. Monkeys were divided into treatment groups of 3, 6 and 12 months duration and were treated once daily with isoniazid, rifampin and ethambutol. All animals survived their treatment course, had marked clinical improvement and rapid resolution of radiographically demonstrable lesions. Lesion regression evaluated by necropsy and histopathology correlated positively with length of treatment interval. Mycobacterium bovis was not isolated from any animal following treatment. Multidrug chemotherapy of tuberculosis was considered successful and practical in rhesus monkeys at the 12 month treatment interval. Chemotherapy may provide a reasonable alternative to destruction of valuable animals infected with tuberculosis.

Animals↗

A second sooty mangabey monkey with naturally acquired leprosy: first reported possible monkey-to-monkey transmission.

The existence of naturally acquired leprosy in a second sooty mangabey monkey has been documented. The disease has the clinical and histopathological characteristics of subpolar lepromatous leprosy (LLs), and microbiological studies thus far confirm the etiologic agent as Mycobacterium leprae. This mangabey had been housed in direct contact with the first mangabey in which naturally acquired leprosy was diagnosed in 1979. Clinical symptoms appeared in the second mangabey in 1986, almost 7 years after the appearance of skin lesions in the first monkey. It is likely that the second mangabey contracted leprosy from the first mangabey or that both animals contracted the disease by contact with an unknown common third source. This is the only known possible natural transmission of leprosy from monkey to monkey, and suggests that a potential zoonosis exists in wild monkeys that may serve as a reservoir for the disease in areas where human leprosy is endemic.

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Experimental leprosy in African green monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops): a model for polyneuritic leprosy.

Three African green monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops) were inoculated intravenously and intracutaneously with Mycobacterium leprae derived from a naturally infected mangabey monkey. All developed cutaneous lesions at inoculation sites. One developed disseminated cutaneous lesions, while the cutaneous lesions in the other two regressed and eventually disappeared. The animals were examined at necropsy five years after inoculation. All three had active leprosy infection in peripheral nerves with extensive inflammation and fibrosis. The disease histologically resembled borderline-lepromatous leprosy. These findings add a new dimension to animal models of leprosy.

Animals↗

Disseminated cytomegalovirus infection in immunodeficient rhesus monkeys.

Rhesus monkeys experimentally infected with the lentivirus SIV/Delta become immunodeficient and often die of opportunistic infections. The most frequent of these is cytomegalovirus (CMV). The lesions due to reactivated CMV infection in 14 SIV-infected monkeys were reviewed. Changes due to CMV were observed in the brain, lung, lymph node, liver, spleen, small intestine, testicle, nerves, and arteries. Disseminated CMV infection in immunodeficient rhesus monkeys is a useful model for studying the pathogenesis, treatment, and prevention of similar infections in immunodeficient human beings.

Animals↗