title: Male rodent genital tract infection with Chlamydia muridarum: persistence in the prostate gland that triggers self-immune reactions in genetically susceptible hosts.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We investigated Chlamydia trachomatis infection and its pathogenic consequences in the male rodent genital tract.
  
  
  METHODS
  Male rats were inoculated in the meatal urethra with Chlamydia muridarum. We sought bacterial DNA at early and late times after inoculation in different parts of the male genital tract. Histological alterations and the immune response against prostate antigens were analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Male rats showed ascending infection with wide dissemination of bacteria in the genital tract at an early time point after inoculation. At later stages bacteria persisted only in some parts of the genital tract and in the prostate gland. C. muridarum was also detected in semen in a high proportion of rats irrespective of an acute or chronic stage of infection. Histological alterations that accompanied C. muridarum were especially observed in the prostate and mainly composed of CD3+ cell infiltration. Positive humoral and cellular responses against prostate antigens were noted in a considerable number of infected rats. NOD mice, an autoimmune, prostatitis prone strain, showed a similar pattern with C. muridarum in the prostate of 100% of infected mice, which was again accompanied by mononuclear cell infiltration and antibodies against prostate antigens at early and late times after inoculation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Results reveal that C. muridarum infects the male rodent genitourinary tract with special persistence in the prostate gland, where it causes chronic inflammation that in turn may act as a trigger factor for self-immune reactions in susceptible hosts.
authors.affiliation: Centro de Investigaciones en Bioquímica Clínica e Inmunología (CIBICI-CONICET), Departamento de Bioquímica Clínica, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, and Hospital Nuestra Señora de la Misericordia, Córdoba, Argentina.
authors.forename: Juan Pablo
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Mackern-Oberti
authors.forename: Ruben Dario
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Motrich
authors.forename: Maria Laura
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Breser
authors.forename: Hugo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cejas
authors.forename: Cecilia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cuffini
authors.forename: Mariana
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Maccioni
authors.forename: Virginia Elena
authors.initials: VE
authors.lastname: Rivero
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015551:Autoimmunity / Q000235:genetics; D002690:Chlamydia Infections / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D023502:Chlamydia muridarum; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D008297:Male; D052801:Male Urogenital Diseases / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000382:microbiology*; D051379:Mice; D016688:Mice, Inbred NOD; D011467:Prostate / Q000382:microbiology*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar