Salmonella Typhimurium is an enteric pathogen that causes acute and chronic infections in humans and animals. One-week-old germ-free piglets were orally colonized/infected with the Salmonella Typhimurium LT2 strain or its isogenic rough ΔrfaL, ΔrfaG or ΔrfaC mutants with exactly defined lipopolysaccharide (LPS) defects. After 24 h, the piglets were euthanized and the colonization of the small intestine, translocations into the mesenteric lymph nodes, liver, spleen, lungs, and bacteremia, along with changes in the ileum histology, and transcription levels of the tight junction proteins claudin-1, claudin-2, and occludin were all assessed. Additionally, transcription levels of IL-8, TNF-α, and IL-10 in the terminal ileum, and their local and systemic protein levels were evaluated. Wild-type Salmonella Typhimurium showed the highest translocation, histopathological changes, upregulation of claudins and downregulation of occludin, transcription of the cytokines, intestinal IL-8 and TNF-α levels, and systemic TNF-α and IL-10 levels. Depending on the extent of the incompleteness of the LPS, the levels of the respective elements decreased, or no changes were observed at all in the piglets colonized/infected with Δrfa mutants. Intestinal IL-10 and systemic IL-8 levels were not detected in any piglet groups. This study provided foundational data on the gnotobiotic piglet response to colonization/infection with the exactly defined rough Salmonella Typhimurium LT2 isogenic mutants.

• Keywords
• Salmonella Typhimurium, cytokines, germ-free piglet, gnotobiotic, lipopolysaccharide, tight junction proteins, Δrfa mutant,
• MeSH
• Cytokines immunology   MeSH
• Germ-Free Life * MeSH
• Liver microbiology   MeSH
• Lipopolysaccharides toxicity   MeSH
• Lymph Nodes microbiology   MeSH
• Mutation MeSH
• Lung microbiology   MeSH
• Swine MeSH
• Salmonella typhimurium genetics   physiology   MeSH
• Salmonella Infections immunology   microbiology   pathology   MeSH
• Spleen microbiology   MeSH
• Intestine, Small immunology   microbiology   pathology   MeSH
• Virulence * MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Check Tag
• Animals MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
• Names of Substances
• Cytokines MeSH
• Lipopolysaccharides MeSH

Salmonella vaccines used in poultry in the EU are based on attenuated strains of either Salmonella serovar Enteritidis or Typhimurium which results in a decrease in S. Enteritidis and S. Typhimurium but may allow other Salmonella serovars to fill an empty ecological niche. In this study we were therefore interested in the early interactions of chicken immune system with S. Infantis compared to S. Enteritidis and S. Typhimurium, and a role of O-antigen in these interactions. To reach this aim, we orally infected newly hatched chickens with 7 wild type strains of Salmonella serovars Enteritidis, Typhimurium and Infantis as well as with their rfaL mutants and characterized the early Salmonella-chicken interactions. Inflammation was characterized in the cecum 4 days post-infection by measuring expression of 43 different genes. All wild type strains stimulated a greater inflammatory response than any of the rfaL mutants. However, there were large differences in chicken responses to different wild type strains not reflecting their serovar classification. The initial interaction between newly-hatched chickens and Salmonella was found to be dependent on the presence of O-antigen but not on its structure, i.e. not on serovar classification. In addition, we observed that the expression of calbindin or aquaporin 8 in the cecum did not change if inflammatory gene expression remained within a 10 fold fluctuation, indicating the buffering capacity of the cecum, preserving normal gut functions even in the presence of minor inflammatory stimuli.

• MeSH
• Aquaporins metabolism   MeSH
• Cecum immunology   metabolism   MeSH
• Calbindins metabolism   MeSH
• Chickens immunology   MeSH
• Poultry Diseases immunology   metabolism   MeSH
• O Antigens metabolism   MeSH
• Immunity, Innate MeSH
• Salmonella enterica immunology   metabolism   MeSH
• Salmonella Infections, Animal immunology   metabolism   MeSH
• Serogroup MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Check Tag
• Animals MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
• Names of Substances
• Aquaporins MeSH
• aquaporin 8 MeSH Browser
• Calbindins MeSH
• O Antigens MeSH