title: Development of real-time in vivo imaging of device-related Staphylococcus epidermidis infection in mice and influence of animal immune status on susceptibility to infection.
abstract: Staphylococcus epidermidis is the leading cause of hospital-acquired device-related infections, but there is a lack of suitable methods to investigate the pathogenesis of S. epidermidis infection. We created a bioluminescent strain of S. epidermidis and developed a subcutaneous catheter-related murine infection model for real-time monitoring of biofilm-associated infection. Additionally, we compared severely immunocompromised and immunocompetent mice, demonstrating the substantial effect of animal immune status on susceptibility to experimentally induced S. epidermidis disease. This study presents a novel approach for investigating the in vivo details of the pathogenesis of S. epidermidis infection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts 01655, USA. cuong.vuong@umass.med.edu
authors.forename: Cuong
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vuong
authors.forename: Stanislava
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kocianova
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Jagath L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Kadurugamuwa
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Otto
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018441:Biofilms; D003114:Colony-Forming Units Assay; D004198:Disease Susceptibility / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D049449:Luminescence; D051379:Mice; D016513:Mice, SCID; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000276:immunology*; D013212:Staphylococcus epidermidis; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology