A Murine Model of Polymyositis Induced by Coxsackievirus B1 (Tucson Strain)

✍ Scribed by Steven L. Strongwater; Katerina Dorovini-zis; Richard D. Ball; Thomas J. Schnitzer

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1984
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 941 KB
• Volume: 27
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0004-3591
• DOI: 10.1002/art.1780270411

✦ Synopsis

A murine model of polymyositis induced by coxsackievirus B1, Tucson strain (CVBT) is described. Intraperitoneal CVBT inoculation of CD 1 Swiss mice less than 48 hours old resulted in proximal hindquarter weakness that was first apparent 7 days after viral challenge and persisted for more than 10 weeks. Electromyographic and histologic evidence of a continuing myositis was present during this entire period of time. However, virus was not detectable later than 2 weeks post infection, despite clinical progression of disease. The finding of electromyographir and histologic abnormalities in CVBT-infected mice, long after virus had cleared and neutralizing antibody production evoked, suggests that persistent myositis may be immunologically mediated, triggered by the initial acute viral infection.

Polymyositis (PM) is a treatable myopathic disease whose etiology is unknown. Prcvious investigations of this disorder have centered on examining the role of viral infection and autoimmune dysfunction in the pathogenesis of PM, but to date these studies have failed to provide an understanding of the pathogenetic mechanisms involved (1).