Mediastinal adipose tissue can be found on the anterior surface of pericardial sac below the remnants of the thymus. On the basis of previous studies describing adenoviruses (AdVs) as a causative factor of obesity, the causative relation between the presence of AdVs and an increased accumulation of mediastinal adipose tissue was studied. The study included 25 obese/overweight subjects with cardiac disorders. Specimens from fat deposits from the anterior mediastinum were collected during cardiac surgery procedures. Afterwards, PCR was used to detect AdV-DNA. No AdV-DNA could be detected in adipose tissue. An association between an excessive accumulation of mediastinal adipose tissue and an AdV-infection in the development of accompanying cardiac disorders was excluded.
Keywords: DNA; PCR; fat tissue.
© 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.