JAC Advance Access originally published online on April 21, 2005
Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy 2005 55(6):1037-1040; doi:10.1093/jac/dki128
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A 6 week course of azithromycin treatment has no beneficial effect on atherosclerotic lesion development in apolipoprotein E-deficient mice chronically infected with Chlamydia pneumoniae


Department of Pathobiology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
* Corresponding author. Tel: +1-206-543-8689; Fax: +1-206-543-3873; Email: cckuo{at}u.washington.edu
Objectives: To evaluate whether antimicrobial chemotherapy prevents acceleration of atherosclerotic lesion development induced by infection with Chlamydia pneumoniae.
Methods: ApoE-deficient mice which develop hyperlipidaemia and atherosclerosis spontaneously were inoculated intranasally with C. pneumoniae. Animals were treated with azithromycin for 6 weeks after the third inoculation and the atherosclerotic lesion areas in the aortic sinus were measured by computer-assisted morphometry.
Results: At 12 weeks post-infection, infected untreated animals developed significantly larger lesion areas compared with sham-inoculated controls (8.7 x 104±2.3 x 104 µm2 versus 5.6 x 104±2.4 x 104 µm2). However, there were no differences in lesion size of infected mice treated with azithromycin in comparison with untreated infected controls (11.0 x 104±3.0 x 104 µm2 versus 8.7 x 104±2.3 x 104 µm2).
Conclusions: Antibiotic treatment against C. pneumoniae has no beneficial effects on hyperlipidaemia-induced atherosclerosis accelerated by C. pneumoniae in a mouse model.
Keywords: C. pneumoniae , atherosclerosis , hyperlipidaemia , treatment , prevention
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