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Full Scientific Reports |
Correspondence: 1Corresponding Author: Recai Tunca, Department of Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Adnan Menderes, 0916 Isikli, Aydin, Turkey. rtunca26{at}hotmail.com
| Abstract |
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Key Words: Aspartate aminotransferase Calves cardiac troponin I creatine kinase foot-and-mouth disease immunohistochemistry lactate dehydrogenase myocardial injury serology
| Introduction |
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Cardiac troponin I (cTnI) is one of the subunits in the troponin complex bound to tropomyosin and actin on the thin filaments of striated muscle fibers,9 and it is 1 of 3 isoforms of troponin known to be present exclusively in cardiac muscle.4 Its serum concentration elevates after acute myocardial injury because of leakage from the damaged myocardial cells.29,30 However, during the very early stage of myocarditis, the laboratory markers of myocardial cell damage, such as creatine kinase (CK) and CK-myocardial band (CK-MB) levels are often within the normal range in humans.36 However, cTnI is now the preferred biochemical parameter in human medicine for assessing myocardial necrosis and myocyte damage, with virtually absolute myocardial tissue specificity as well as higher sensitivity than CK isoenzyme CK-MB, cardiac troponin C, and cardiac troponin T.3,22 A remarkable homology exists in amino acid sequence between human and animals, and tissue reactivity of cTnI of various species revealed that cTnI can be used in animals.29 Elevated cTnI has been reported in calves17 and cattle,16,29 indicating that elevations in the blood would serve as useful biomarkers of myocardial injury. Cardiac troponin I was also used as a histologic marker for myocardial injuries in humans33 and dogs.13 Increased cTnI levels were reported in human acute viral pericarditis cases20 and in cattle with traumatic pericarditis.16
The use of cTnI in veterinary medicine is biochemical14,26,28,32 rather than immunohistochemical. In animals, only a few experimental studies have examined tissue microscopically to visualize the pattern of cTnI loss from the injured myocardium.13,21 However, in humans, it was suggested that cardiac troponin immunolabeling might be useful to identify myocardial damage.18
To the authors' knowledge, no study using cTnI immunoreactivity for diagnosis of cardiac injury in ruminants has been performed. However, it was previously suggested that serum cardiac troponin might be used for the diagnosis of myocardial degeneration due to FMD in calves17 and in cattle with traumatic pericarditis.16 However, the relationship between viral pericarditis and serum cTnI levels and its in vivo immunohistochemical expression has not been studied in veterinary medicine. The current study was designed to investigate the practical value of using biochemical and histologic assessment of cTnI concentration to detect myocardial degeneration in calves with FMD.
| Materials and Methods |
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Necropsy and Histopathology
Necropsy was performed in all cases that died of FMD. Myocardial tissue specimens were collected from the interventricular, the right and left atrial, and ventricular parts of the hearts. All tissue specimens were divided into 3 equal parts. Samples were taken from these parts for a total of 15 samples per case. Tissue samples taken from heart were fixed in 10% buffered formalin. Selected blocks were processed and embedded in paraffin. Sections (4–6 µm) were then cut from each block for histologic examination and immunolabeling.
Serum Biochemistry
Blood samples were collected from diseased calves before necropsy and control calves before slaughter and centrifuged at 800 x g for 10 min. Serum samples were harvested and then stored at –20°C until analyses. Serum CK, CK-MB, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activities were determined on a spectrophotometera using commercial kits.b
Cardiac Troponin I Analyses
Serum cTnI reactivity was determined using a rapid assay, Card-I Kit Combo Test,c following the manufacturer's instructions. Results were recorded as positive when 2 red-brown lines appeared in the chamber within 15–20 min of the test and negative when 1 line was observed. A commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kitd was used to determine cTnI concentration in all animals. The ELISA was performed and the results were calculated (ng/ml) following the manufacturer's instructions.
Immunohistochemistry
Sections from all tissue samples were cut to 4–6 µm and processed for immunohistochemical examination by a streptavidin-biotin-peroxidase complex (ABC) method. Tissue sections were placed on 3-amino-propyltrieyhoxysilanecoatede slides, dewaxed, and hydrated. Antigen retrieval was facilitated by heating in citrate buffer (pH 6.0) for 10 min in a microwave oven with a power of 800 watts. The slides were then dipped in freshly prepared absolute methanol containing hydrogen peroxide 3% vol/vol for 15 min to quench endogenous peroxidase activity. Sections were treated with goat anti-cTnI (1:100; C-19: sc-8118)f for 60 min. After washing with phosphate buffered solution (PBS), the slides were incubated rabbit anti-goat immunoglobulin G diluted at 1:300 in PBS for 30 min at room temperature. Sections were then incubated with ABCg diluted at 1:300 in Tris-buffered solution for 30 min at room temperature. After washing with PBS, the slides were treated for 5 min at room temperature with 3,3'-diaminobenzidine tetrahydrochlorideg (DAB) in PBS (0.5 mg DAB/ml) containing hydrogen peroxide 30% vol/vol. Finally, sections were counterstained with Mayer's hematoxylin, dehydrated, and mounted.
Normal heart myocardium obtained from healthy control animals was sampled and trimmed identically to the clinical cases served as positive control. In addition, each slide had its own built-in negative and positive controls: arteries within the myocardium were expected to be negative for cTnI and Purkinje fibers were positive for cTnI. An additional negative control for immunolabeling procedure consisted of replacing primary antisera with saline.
Scoring of Ctni Immunolabeling Results and Statistical Analysis
The percentage of the total area of the cTnI-positive cardiomyocytes, including cells with decreased labeling, was assessed semiquantitatively under a light microscope with 10x ocular grids and a 40x objective. Mean percentage of total area of labeled myocytes in 10 fields of each section was calculated, and this was repeated for 15 sections of heart from each calf. The final mean value was accepted as the immunolabeling score for each animal. Consistency was maintained by evaluating similar regions of heart from case to case. The mean immunolabeling score determined for each animal was also explored in statistical analyses. Seven slaughterhouse control cattle were included in the statistical comparison. For the statistical analysis, differences between the groups were tested by analysis of variance and Duncan test using SPSS for Windows (version 10.0).h Data were presented as mean ± standard deviations, and P values less than 0.05 were considered significant.
| Results |
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Biochemistry
The rapid cTnI assay kit revealed that all cases were positive as indicated by the 2 colored lines appearing in the test window; controls were negative (Fig. 1a, 1b). The concentration of cTnI and activities of CK, CK-MB, AST, and LDH are given in Table 1.
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Histopathological Findings
Although degenerative lesions were not present in the control calves, affected hearts from calves with FMD exhibited severe hyaline degeneration, necrosis, mineralization of occasional myocardial fibers, and marked interstitial aggregations of inflammatory cells (mainly mononuclear and some neutrophils). The ventricular myocardium was most markedly affected, but some auricular muscle fibers had also undergone degenerative changes. Myocardial degeneration and necrosis occurred both focally, in and near inflammatory areas, and diffusely, involving large areas through which inflammatory foci were scattered (Fig. 2a, 2b). Degenerative muscle fiber cells were swollen, and the cross striations disappeared. Cardiac myocyte nuclei within the foci of myocarditis were hyperchromatic, pyknotic, or karyorrhectic. With development of necrosis, the nuclei disappeared and muscle fibers disintegrated into irregular masses of eosinophilic amorphous and granular debris. In these areas, some of the macrophages that invaded the damaged fibers contained large eosinophilic granules of necrotic debris within their cytoplasm. Fine mineral granules were scattered indiscriminately among the necrotic contents of some fibers. A focal acute vasculitis affected a few small vessels.
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| Discussion |
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Serum cTnI concentrations increase in several types of myocardial injury because of leakage from the damaged myocardial cells.1 Measurement of cTnI in various animal species serves as a useful biomarker of myocardial injury.29,30 In humans, release of cTnI from the heart into the systemic circulation in acute pericarditis is representative of inflammatory myocardial cell damage.10 Studies in humans with acute myocardial infarction have shown that cTnI peaks on average within 11 hr and persists for around 100 hr.8,20 Cardiac troponin I concentration in a cow with idiopathic pericarditis was reported as 0.89 ng/mL, and values of 5 healthy cattle ranged from 0 to 0.04 ng/mL in the same study.21 In the current study, significantly elevated cTnI levels ranged from 11.7 to 16.4 ng/ml in FMD cases; the mean cTnI concentration was 0.24 ng/ml in healthy calves.
Comparison of the histologic and biochemical data revealed an inverse correlation between histologic score values and the serum concentration of the markers. Immunohistochemistry of all 17 FMD cases showed well-defined areas with significant reduction or total loss of cTnI expression, indicating the presence of myocardial cellular degeneration. Elevated CK, CK-MB, LDH, and AST activities and cTnI concentration in FMD-induced myocarditis supported the immunohistochemical findings. Similar results were reported for humans with viral pericarditis.20 Furthermore, a previous study34 demonstrated that in dogs, increases in serum troponins occurred in parallel with loss of troponins from the ischemic myocardium. In rats, alterations in cTnI occurred with severe left ventricular remodeling.35
It was reported that the serum cardiac troponin concentration was an earlier marker of myocardial injury after virus infection than was the histologic finding of inflammation.25 The increase of serum cTnI and reduction or loss of cTnI expression in tissue are roughly related to disease severity, probably reflecting the extent of inflammatory and degenerative changes of the myocardium. In humans, maintenance of high serum concentrations of cTnI was considered an indication of a poor prognosis in advanced heart failure.19 Also in humans, the definitive diagnosis of myocarditis has to be established by the demonstration of myocytolysis and lymphocytic infiltrates in the endomyocardial biopsies,5 and acute myocarditis was histologically diagnosed in only 10% of the patients with clinically suspected myocarditis.27
It was suggested that cardiac troponin immunolabeling might be useful for identifying myocardial necrosis in human autopsy hearts.18,33 Similarly, an experimental dog model of myocardial infarction revealed that loss of tissue cTnI could be seen in infarcts as early as 30 min, even before histologic evidence of necrosis appeared.13 These results show that immunolabeling for cTnI was more sensitive than routine HE staining for the recognition of peracute myocardial necrosis in both experimental animals and humans.
In the present study, heterogenous loss of cTnI was seen in the degenerated myocardium. There was a great deal of variability in intensity of residual staining for cTnI within the degenerative areas. Heterogeneous loss of immunolabeling occurred in dog hearts with experimental myocardial ischemia.13 This variability of the immunolabeling was based on heterogeneous distribution of flow within the ischemic tissue with necrosis occurring faster in some parts of the myocardium than others.13 This variability of immunolabeling intensity was attributed to heterogeneous distribution of blood flow within the ischemic tissue that resulted in differing rates of onset and progression of cardiac necrosis. In some necrotic cardiomyocytes, decreased immunohistochemical labeling for cTnI could be due to loss of immunoreactivity, to some unknown degree, due to the in situ degradation of this protein rather than release of the immunogenically intact protein fragment from the injured cell.
It was well established that cardiac troponins are cleared from blood faster than CK-MB, but concentrations stay elevated longer.23 Because 94% of troponins are bound in the structure of myofibrilla, and 6% are dissolved in cytosol,24 in cases of severe cell damage the proportion that is dissolved in the cytosol can immediately be released into blood by diffusion. In contrast, the major proportion of troponins can only be released after proteolytic disintegration. This delayed release from the injured cell is the reason for the relatively long period during which increased troponin concentration is detectable in serum, although the fragments continue to be subjected to proteolytic disintegration within the blood stream.24 These findings indicate continued, delayed release of troponins from necrotic myocytes.13 A previous study13 suggested that the sustained elevation of cardiac troponin in the blood resulted from ongoing release during infarct development.
In the current study, the loss of immunolabeling paralleled histologic evidence of injured myocytes in the tissue. Depletion or loss of cTnI immunolabeling was pronounced at the center rather than the periphery of the lesions. However, an earlier study13 observed greater loss at the periphery of an infarct than at its center in an experimental dog myocardial ischemia model. The authors of that study suggested that the phenomenon was possibly due to greater antegrade and retrograde flow at the periphery of the infarct with washout of proteins from necrotic myocardium.12,13 The authors13 further suggested that greater depletion of cardiac troponin occurring at the periphery of the infarct, particularly with reperfusion, represents a manifestation of this washout. However, the opposite finding in the present study was likely related to the different pathogenesis involved in viral myocarditis that resulted in a diffuse pattern of myocardial degeneration and necrosis. The positive immunolabeling of the periphery of the lesions might have resulted solely from the limited damage of the myocytes.
In conclusion, the present study demonstrates that elevated serum cTnI levels can potentially provide solid evidence for myocardial injury during FMD in calves, and serum cTnI concentrations are well correlated with depletion or loss of tissue cTnI expression. Measurement of serum cTnI is highly sensitive and specific for cardiac myocyte injury in calves with FMD and may be an important first step toward the design of new methods to diagnose FMD-induced myocarditis. In animals with clinically suspected myocarditis, measurement of cTnI is a very sensitive way of demonstrating myocardial cell damage. Furthermore, it is suggested that evaluation of immunohistochemical expression of cTnI represents a highly sensitive marker of myocardial degeneration and necrosis.
| Acknowledgments |
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| Sources and manufacturers |
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a. UV-1201 Spectrophotometer, Shimadzu Corp., Japan. ![]()
d. CARD-I-KIT ELISA cTnI, Labmaster Oy, Turku, Finland. ![]()
e. Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO. ![]()
f. Santa Cruz Biotechnology Inc., Santa Cruz, CA. ![]()
g. Dako North America Inc., Carpinteria, CA. ![]()
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