title: Involvement of nitric oxide in the control of a mouse model of Campylobacter jejuni infection.
abstract: Campylobacter jejuni is an important enteropathogenic bacterium, causing food-borne gastroenteritis in both industrialized and developing countries. Campylobacter jejuni is a ubiquitous microorganism and, in endemic areas the highest incidence of infections is found in children. This finding suggests that hosts, after a first contact with the pathogen, are able to induce a protective immune response against subsequent exposures. It is crucial to understand the protective mechanisms that influence the interaction of the pathogen with the host, in order to develop new tools for prophylactic vaccination programs and control strategies; thus, in this work, we studied the host response to C. jejuni infection using a murine model. We observed that DBA/2 mice are able to control an intraperitoneal infection more effectively than BALB/c mice. In addition, we showed that both BALB/c and DBA/2 had an increased expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase, which catalyzes the formation of nitric oxide (NO), in response to infection, and we postulated that NO was involved in the clearance of the pathogen. Our results showed that mice control C. jejuni infection effectively with mechanisms that could involve an innate immune response mediated by NO.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Public Health and Food Safety, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy. michela.tarantino@iss.it
authors.forename: Michela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tarantino
authors.forename: Anna Maria
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Dionisi
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pistoia
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Petrucci
authors.forename: Ida
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Luzzi
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pasquali
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002169:Campylobacter Infections / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D016123:Campylobacter jejuni / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions; D006801:Humans; D007113:Immunity, Innate; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008811:Mice, Inbred DBA; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D012313:RNA / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D009569:Nitric Oxide; D012313:RNA; D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase