title: Importance of heat-labile enterotoxin in colonization of the adult mouse small intestine by human enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli strains.
abstract: Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) infections are a significant cause of diarrheal disease and infant mortality in developing countries. Studies of ETEC pathogenesis relevant to vaccine development have been greatly hampered by the lack of a suitable small-animal model of infection with human ETEC strains. Here, we demonstrate that adult immunocompetent outbred mice can be effectively colonized with the prototypical human ETEC H10407 strain (colonization factor antigen I; heat-labile and heat-stable enterotoxin positive) and that production of heat-labile holotoxin provides a significant advantage in colonization of the small intestine in this model.
authors.affiliation: Department of Comparative Medicine, University of Tenessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN 38104, USA.
authors.forename: Kenneth P
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Allen
authors.forename: Mildred M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Randolph
authors.forename: James M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Fleckenstein
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000378:metabolism*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004768:Enterotoxins / Q000378:metabolism*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000145:classification / Q000254:growth & development / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D004927:Escherichia coli Infections / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology*; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007421:Intestine, Small / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology; D051379:Mice; D008813:Mice, Inbred ICR; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning
chemical_list: D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D004768:Enterotoxins; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; C027538:heat-labile enterotoxin, E coli