title: Different outcomes of experimental leptospiral infection in mouse strains with distinct genotypes.
abstract: The mouse disease model has the advantage of a broad array of immunological and genetic tools available for basic research. Some studies on transgenic and/or mutant mouse strains as models for experimental leptospirosis have been reported; however, the wider use of such models is hampered by a poor understanding of the outcome of experimental leptospiral infection among the different mouse strains available. Here, the outcome of infection by a virulent strain of Leptospira interrogans serogroup Icterohaemorrhagiae strain Cop was studied in four commonly used wild-type mouse strains: A, CBA, BALB/c and C57BL/6. The end points evaluated in this study were survival, presence of kidney lesions, leptospiral load in kidney samples, microscopic agglutination test titre and anti-leptospiral IgG antibody levels. As expected, none of the mouse strains were susceptible to lethal leptospirosis. However, these strains developed specific pathologies associated with sublethal leptospirosis. The A and C57BL/6 strains exhibited a high leptospiral load in kidney samples and the CBA and C57BL/6 strains developed severe inflammatory lesions, whilst the BALB/c strain proved to be the most resistant to subclinical leptospirosis.
authors.affiliation: Gonçalo Moniz Research Centre, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Ministry of Health, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.
authors.forename: Cleiton S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.affiliation: Gonçalo Moniz Research Centre, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Ministry of Health, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.
authors.forename: Júlio O
authors.initials: JO
authors.lastname: Macedo
authors.affiliation: Federal University of Bahia, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.
authors.forename: Mauricio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bandeira
authors.affiliation: Gonçalo Moniz Research Centre, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Ministry of Health, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.
authors.forename: Adenizar D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Chagas-Junior
authors.affiliation: Gonçalo Moniz Research Centre, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Ministry of Health, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.
authors.forename: Alan J A
authors.initials: AJA
authors.lastname: McBride
authors.affiliation: Federal University of Bahia, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.
authors.forename: Flávia W C
authors.initials: FWC
authors.lastname: McBride
authors.affiliation: Federal University of Bahia, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.|Gonçalo Moniz Research Centre, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Ministry of Health, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.
authors.forename: Mitermayer G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Reis
authors.affiliation: Federal University of Bahia, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.
authors.forename: Daniel A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Athanazio
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D005838:Genotype; D007921:Leptospira interrogans; D007922:Leptospirosis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D051379:Mice; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains