Experimental coxsackievirus B3 perimyocarditis in the right ventricle in BALB/c mice: a one-year follow-up study.

We described severe perimyocarditis in weanling BALB/c mice inoculated with coxsackievirus B3 (Nancy strain) which was exclusively limited to the right ventricle. Yellowish-white patches were seen on the surface of the right ventricle of the heart on the seventh day through 360th day after inoculation with virus. Following myocardial degeneration and necrosis, marked perimyocardial fibrosis with calcification was observed 90 days after inoculation with virus and persisted through 360th day. Spontaneous pericardial lesions were observed in the right ventricle in a few control mice, but these changes were different in severity and localization from perimyocarditis observed in mice infected with coxsackievirus B3. This animal model may provide an opportunity to study the natural course of perimyocarditis of viral etiology and possible sequel chronic or constrictive pericarditis in humans.