Morphofunctional Changes in the Lung Vascular Endotheliocytes in Mice with Influenza A/H5N1 A/Goose/Krasnoozerskoye/627/05.

The lung vessels of male C57Bl/6 mice were studied by immunohistochemical and stereometric methods on days 1, 3, 6, and 10 after intranasal infection with influenza A/H5N1 A/Goose/Krasnoozerskoye/627/05 virus. Influenza virus replicates in mouse lung vascular endotheliocytes and persists in these cells until the beginning of convalescence (day 10 after infection). This indicates high pathogenic activity of this strain. Active proliferation and apoptosis of endotheliocytes are detected early after infection; the counts of endotheliocytes expressing lysosomal hydrolases and NO-synthases increase many-fold. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]