Autonomic nervous dysfunction in hamsters infected with West Nile virus.
Clinical studies and case reports clearly document that West Nile virus (WNV) can cause respiratory and gastrointestinal (GI) complications. Other functions controlled by the autonomic nervous system may also be directly affected by WNV, such as bladder and cardiac functions. To investigate how WNV...
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2011-05-01
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| author | Hong Wang Venkatraman Siddharthan Jeffery O Hall John D Morrey |
| author_facet | Hong Wang Venkatraman Siddharthan Jeffery O Hall John D Morrey |
| author_sort | Hong Wang |
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| description | Clinical studies and case reports clearly document that West Nile virus (WNV) can cause respiratory and gastrointestinal (GI) complications. Other functions controlled by the autonomic nervous system may also be directly affected by WNV, such as bladder and cardiac functions. To investigate how WNV can cause autonomic dysfunctions, we focused on the cardiac and GI dysfunctions of rodents infected with WNV. Infected hamsters had distension of the stomach and intestines at day 9 after viral challenge. GI motility was detected by a dye retention assay; phenol red dye was retained more in the stomachs of infected hamsters as compared to sham-infected hamsters. The amplitudes of electromygraphs (EMGs) of intestinal muscles were significantly reduced. Myenteric neurons that innervate the intestines, in addition to neurons in the brain stem, were identified to be infected with WNV. These data suggest that infected neurons controlling autonomic function were the cause of GI dysfunction in WNV-infected hamsters. Using radiotelemetry to record electrocardiograms and to measure heart rate variability (HRV), a well-accepted readout for autonomic function, we determined that HRV and autonomic function were suppressed in WNV-infected hamsters. Cardiac histopathology was observed at day 9 only in the right atrium, which was coincident with WNV staining. A subset of WNV infected cells was identified among cells with hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated potassium channel 4 (HCN4) as a marker for cells in the sinoatrial (SA) and atrioventricular (AV) nodes. The unique contribution of this study is the discovery that WNV infection of hamsters can lead to autonomic dysfunction as determined by reduced HRV and reduced EMG amplitudes of the GI tract. These data may model autonomic dysfunction of the human West Nile neurological disease. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e498c774a4c8494e9120f7bcd57210b5 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2011-05-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
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| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj-art-e498c774a4c8494e9120f7bcd57210b52025-08-20T02:34:16ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032011-05-0165e1957510.1371/journal.pone.0019575Autonomic nervous dysfunction in hamsters infected with West Nile virus.Hong WangVenkatraman SiddharthanJeffery O HallJohn D MorreyClinical studies and case reports clearly document that West Nile virus (WNV) can cause respiratory and gastrointestinal (GI) complications. Other functions controlled by the autonomic nervous system may also be directly affected by WNV, such as bladder and cardiac functions. To investigate how WNV can cause autonomic dysfunctions, we focused on the cardiac and GI dysfunctions of rodents infected with WNV. Infected hamsters had distension of the stomach and intestines at day 9 after viral challenge. GI motility was detected by a dye retention assay; phenol red dye was retained more in the stomachs of infected hamsters as compared to sham-infected hamsters. The amplitudes of electromygraphs (EMGs) of intestinal muscles were significantly reduced. Myenteric neurons that innervate the intestines, in addition to neurons in the brain stem, were identified to be infected with WNV. These data suggest that infected neurons controlling autonomic function were the cause of GI dysfunction in WNV-infected hamsters. Using radiotelemetry to record electrocardiograms and to measure heart rate variability (HRV), a well-accepted readout for autonomic function, we determined that HRV and autonomic function were suppressed in WNV-infected hamsters. Cardiac histopathology was observed at day 9 only in the right atrium, which was coincident with WNV staining. A subset of WNV infected cells was identified among cells with hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated potassium channel 4 (HCN4) as a marker for cells in the sinoatrial (SA) and atrioventricular (AV) nodes. The unique contribution of this study is the discovery that WNV infection of hamsters can lead to autonomic dysfunction as determined by reduced HRV and reduced EMG amplitudes of the GI tract. These data may model autonomic dysfunction of the human West Nile neurological disease.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0019575&type=printable |
| spellingShingle | Hong Wang Venkatraman Siddharthan Jeffery O Hall John D Morrey Autonomic nervous dysfunction in hamsters infected with West Nile virus. PLoS ONE |
| title | Autonomic nervous dysfunction in hamsters infected with West Nile virus. |
| title_full | Autonomic nervous dysfunction in hamsters infected with West Nile virus. |
| title_fullStr | Autonomic nervous dysfunction in hamsters infected with West Nile virus. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Autonomic nervous dysfunction in hamsters infected with West Nile virus. |
| title_short | Autonomic nervous dysfunction in hamsters infected with West Nile virus. |
| title_sort | autonomic nervous dysfunction in hamsters infected with west nile virus |
| url | https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0019575&type=printable |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT hongwang autonomicnervousdysfunctioninhamstersinfectedwithwestnilevirus AT venkatramansiddharthan autonomicnervousdysfunctioninhamstersinfectedwithwestnilevirus AT jefferyohall autonomicnervousdysfunctioninhamstersinfectedwithwestnilevirus AT johndmorrey autonomicnervousdysfunctioninhamstersinfectedwithwestnilevirus |