Non-invasive Model of Neuropathogenic Escherichia Coli Infection in the Neonatal Rat

Overview

Journal J Vis Exp

Specialties Biology
General Medicine

Date 2014 Nov 20

PMID 25408299

Citations 15

Authors

Fatma Dalgakiran

Luci A Witcomb

Alex J McCarthy

George M H Birchenough

Peter W Taylor

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Investigation of the interactions between animal host and bacterial pathogen is only meaningful if the infection model employed replicates the principal features of the natural infection. This protocol describes procedures for the establishment and evaluation of systemic infection due to neuropathogenic Escherichia coli K1 in the neonatal rat. Colonization of the gastrointestinal tract leads to dissemination of the pathogen along the gut-lymph-blood-brain course of infection and the model displays strong age dependency. A strain of E. coli O18:K1 with enhanced virulence for the neonatal rat produces exceptionally high rates of colonization, translocation to the blood compartment and invasion of the meninges following transit through the choroid plexus. As in the human host, penetration of the central nervous system is accompanied by local inflammation and an invariably lethal outcome. The model is of proven utility for studies of the mechanism of pathogenesis, for evaluation of therapeutic interventions and for assessment of bacterial virulence.

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