epidermal-growth-factor and Coronaviridae-Infections

Sialodacryoadenitis (SDA) is a commonly-encountered coronaviral infection in laboratory rats that causes acute destruction of submandibular salivary glands. SDA results in depletion of salivary epidermal growth factor (EGF) and may thereby affect EGF-dependent cell growth processes. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of SDA virus (SDAV) infection on the growth factor-dependent stages of experimental liver carcinogenesis. Rats were injected ip with the carcinogen diethylnitrosamine (DENA) at 1, 2, or 3 weeks following inoculation with SDAV. Uninfected control rats were treated only with DENA. The salivary glands of SDAV-inoculated and control rats were stained using the immunoperoxidase method for the detection of EGF. Residual submandibular salivary gland lesions and focal depletion of EGF were still evident in affected submandibular glands for up to 42 days after SDAV infection. Serum EGF concentrations measured at 9, 28, and 42 days following SDAV inoculation were reduced, but were not significantly different in comparison with non-inoculated, DENA-treated control rats. Initiated hepatocytes were detected 21 days after DENA treatment in formalin-fixed sections by an immunoperoxidase stain for the P isoenzyme of the enzyme glutathione S-transferase (GST-P). There was no significant difference in the number of foci of GST-P positive cells in a comparison of initiated cells in SDAV-inoculated and non-inoculated rats. Based on this model, concurrent infection with SDAV does not appear to have any significant effects on the initial stages of chemical hepatocarcinogenesis in the rat.

Topics: Animals; Antibodies, Viral; Cell Transformation, Neoplastic; Coronaviridae; Coronaviridae Infections; Diethylnitrosamine; Epidermal Growth Factor; Glutathione Transferase; Immunohistochemistry; Incidence; Liver; Liver Neoplasms, Experimental; Male; Rats; Rats, Inbred F344; Salivary Glands; Sialadenitis

Male and female Wistar rats 2 to 15 months of age were inoculated intranasally with sialoda-cryoadenitis (SDA) virus and killed at 8 to 21 days post-inoculation (PI). Submandibular glands were evaluated by light and electron microscopy, and levels of salivary gland epidermal growth factor (EGF) were quantitated by cytochemistry and competitive radioreceptor assay. Apical granules in the epithelial cells of the granular convoluted tubules (GCT) were selectively depleted during the acute and convalescent stages of the disease. In addition, levels of immunoreactive EGF were reduced in affected submandibular glands, especially at 8 to 14 days PI with SDA virus, but some evidence of EGF depletion was seen at up to 3 weeks PI. A corresponding transient depletion of EGF receptor reactive salivary EGF was seen between 1 and 3 weeks after experimental SDA infection. These studies suggest that a clinical (or subclinical) infection with SDA virus could have significant effects on experimental studies on EGF-dependent functions, including reproductive physiology and carcinogenesis.

Topics: Animals; Coronaviridae Infections; Epidermal Growth Factor; Female; Male; Rats; Rats, Inbred Strains; Salivary Gland Diseases; Sialadenitis; Submandibular Gland Diseases