Mouse model for acute bacterial prostatitis in genetically distinct inbred strains.
OBJECTIVE
Prostatitis is a common urologic disease seen in adult men. As many as 50% of men will experience an episode of prostatitis in their lifetime, and 2% to 3% of men will have bacterial prostatitis. Because the pathogenic mechanisms of prostatitis remain unclear, we developed a reproducible mouse model of bacterial prostatitis in which to study the etiology and host factors associated with infection susceptibility.


METHODS
Male BALB/c, C3H/HeJ, C3H/HeOuJ, C57BL/6J, and (BALB/c x C3H/HeJ)F1 mice 13 weeks old were inoculated intraurethrally with 2 x 10(6) or 2 x 10(8) Escherichia coli. Control mice were inoculated with phosphate-buffered saline. The animals were killed at 5 days after inoculation to assess the intensities of the bladder and prostate infections.


RESULTS
Significant bladder or prostate infections were not present in the BALB/c, C57BL/6J, or (BALB/c x C3H/HeJ)F1 mice at either inoculum dose. In contrast, both C3H/HeJ and C3H/HeOuJ mice developed high bladder infections and severe, acute prostatitis at both doses. Control mice infected with phosphate-buffered saline had no bladder or prostate infections. The P values were less than 0.01 for the comparison of bladder and prostate colony-forming units between C3H/HeJ or C3H/HeOuJ and BALB/c, C57BL/6J, or F1 mice.


CONCLUSIONS
The strain-dependent differences in susceptibility indicate that genetic factors may play a major role in the etiology of bacterial prostatitis. Because F1 mice did not develop significant bladder and prostate infections, similar to the BALB/c parents, it appears that infection susceptibility is a recessive trait. The availability of this model will allow us to investigate the immunology, genetics, and histopathologic features of bacterial infection of the prostate.
Elkahwaji
Johny E
JE
Division of Urology, Department of Surgery, University of Wisconsin Medical School, Madison, Wisconsin, USA. elka@surgery.wisc.edu
Ott
Christopher J
CJ
Janda
Lindsay M
LM
Hopkins
Walter J
WJ
D000208:Acute Disease; D000818:Animals; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000382:microbiology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics*; D004927:Escherichia coli Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008809:Mice, Inbred C3H; D011472:Prostatitis / Q000382:microbiology*