title: Brucella pinnipedialis in hooded seal (Cystophora cristata) primary epithelial cells.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Marine Brucella spp. have been isolated from numerous pinniped and cetacean species, but pathological findings in association with infection with Brucella pinnipedialis in pinnipeds have been sparse. The capacity of brucellae to survive and replicate within host macrophages underlies their important ability to produce chronic infections, but previous work has shown that B. pinnipedialis spp. are rapidly eliminated from hooded seal (Cystophora cristata) alveolar macrophages.
  
  
  RESULTS
  To investigate if multiplication could take place in other hooded seal cell types, primary epithelial cells were isolated, verified to express the epithelial marker cytokeratin and challenged with three different strains of B. pinnipedialis; B. pinnipedialis sp. nov., B. pinnipedialis hooded seal strain B17, and B. pinnipedialis hooded seal strain 22F1. All strains were steadily eliminated and the amounts of intracellular bacteria were reduced to less than one-third by 48 h post infection. Intracellular presence was verified using immunocytochemistry.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  So far, intracellular multiplication in seal cells has not been documented for B. pinnipedialis. The lack of intracellular survival in macrophages, as well as in epithelial cells, together with the fact that pathological changes due to B. pinnipedialis infection is not yet identified in seals, suggests that the bacteria may only cause a mild, acute and transient infection. These findings also contribute to substantiate the hypothesis that seals may not be the primary host of B. pinnipedialis and that the transmission to seals are caused by other species in the marine environment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Arctic and Marine Biology, Faculty of Biosciences, Fisheries and Economics, University of Tromsø - The Arctic University of Norway, 9037, Tromsø, Norway. anett.k.larsen@uit.no.|Fram Centre, High North Research Centre for Climate and the Environment, 9007, Tromsø, Norway. anett.k.larsen@uit.no.
authors.forename: Anett Kristin
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Larsen
authors.affiliation: Department of Arctic and Marine Biology, Faculty of Biosciences, Fisheries and Economics, University of Tromsø - The Arctic University of Norway, 9037, Tromsø, Norway. jacques.godfroid@uit.no.|Fram Centre, High North Research Centre for Climate and the Environment, 9007, Tromsø, Norway. jacques.godfroid@uit.no.
authors.forename: Jacques
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Godfroid
authors.affiliation: Department of Arctic and Marine Biology, Faculty of Biosciences, Fisheries and Economics, University of Tromsø - The Arctic University of Norway, 9037, Tromsø, Norway. ingebjorg.h.nymo@uit.no.|Fram Centre, High North Research Centre for Climate and the Environment, 9007, Tromsø, Norway. ingebjorg.h.nymo@uit.no.
authors.forename: Ingebjørg Helena
authors.initials: IH
authors.lastname: Nymo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002002:Brucella / Q000502:physiology*; D002006:Brucellosis / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000382:microbiology*; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal / Q000662:veterinary; D046048:Seals, Earless
references.citation: FEMS Microbiol Rev. 2012 May;36(3):533-62
references.pmid: 22373010
references.citation: J Vet Diagn Invest. 1997 Jul;9(3):298-303
references.pmid: 9249169
references.citation: Dis Aquat Organ. 2013 Nov 6;106(3):187-96
references.pmid: 24191996
references.citation: J Vet Diagn Invest. 2014 Jul;26(4):507-512
references.pmid: 24803576
references.citation: Vet Microbiol. 2005 Jan 31;105(2):103-11
references.pmid: 15627521
references.citation: J Wildl Dis. 2008 Apr;44(2):237-46
references.pmid: 18436657
references.citation: Infect Immun. 2014 Sep;82(9):3927-38
references.pmid: 25001604
references.citation: Int J Syst Evol Microbiol. 2007 Nov;57(Pt 11):2688-93
references.pmid: 17978241
references.citation: J Wildl Dis. 2013 Oct;49(4):802-15
references.pmid: 24502708
references.citation: Infect Immun. 1998 Dec;66(12):5711-24
references.pmid: 9826346
references.citation: Vet Res. 2011;42:93
references.pmid: 21819589
references.citation: Vet Rec. 1994 Apr 2;134(14):359
references.pmid: 8017020
references.citation: J Infect Dis. 2012 Jul 1;206(1):91-8
references.pmid: 22561364
references.citation: J Wildl Dis. 2006 Apr;42(2):290-300
references.pmid: 16870851
references.citation: Vet Microbiol. 2010 Mar 24;141(3-4):321-5
references.pmid: 19880265
references.citation: Med Microbiol Immunol. 2009 Nov;198(4):221-38
references.pmid: 19830453
references.citation: PLoS One. 2013;8(12):e84861
references.pmid: 24376851
references.citation: Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 2012;2:3
references.pmid: 22919595
references.citation: PLoS One. 2013;8(7):e70186
references.pmid: 23936159
references.citation: Microbes Infect. 2009 Mar;11(3):361-6
references.pmid: 19397885
references.citation: J Comp Physiol B. 2007 Aug;177(6):687-700
references.pmid: 17576570
references.citation: Comp Immunol Microbiol Infect Dis. 2014 May;37(3):195-204
references.pmid: 24534631