title: Insights into Campylobacter jejuni colonization and enteritis using a novel infant rabbit model.
abstract: A lack of relevant disease models for Campylobacter jejuni has long been an obstacle to research into this common enteric pathogen. Here we used an infant rabbit to study C. jejuni infection, which enables us to define several previously unknown but key features of the organism. C. jejuni is capable of systemic invasion in the rabbit, and developed a diarrhea symptom that mimicked that observed in many human campylobacteriosis. The large intestine was the most consistently colonized site and produced intestinal inflammation, where specific cytokines were induced. Genes preferentially expressed during C. jejuni infection were screened, and acs, cj1385, cj0259 seem to be responsible for C. jejuni invasion. Our results demonstrates that the infant rabbit can be used as an alternative experimental model for the study of diarrheagenic Campylobacter species and will be useful in exploring the pathogenesis of other related pathogens.
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Key Lab of Zoonosis, Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center for Prevention and Control of Important Animal Infectious Diseases and Zoonoses, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China.
authors.forename: Yuwei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shang
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Key Lab of Zoonosis, Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center for Prevention and Control of Important Animal Infectious Diseases and Zoonoses, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China.
authors.forename: Fangzhe
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Key Lab of Zoonosis, Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center for Prevention and Control of Important Animal Infectious Diseases and Zoonoses, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China.
authors.forename: Zhaojun
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Key Lab of Zoonosis, Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center for Prevention and Control of Important Animal Infectious Diseases and Zoonoses, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China.
authors.forename: Qiuchun
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathobiology and Veterinary Science, the University of Connecticut, Storrs 06269, United States of America.
authors.forename: Xiaohui
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: College of Veterinary Medicine, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China.
authors.forename: Xiaobo
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Yangzhou Maternity and Infant Hospital, Yangzhou 225001, China.
authors.forename: Zhonglan
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Yangzhou First People's Hospital, Yangzhou 225004, China.
authors.forename: Guangyu
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bao
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Key Lab of Zoonosis, Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center for Prevention and Control of Important Animal Infectious Diseases and Zoonoses, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China.
authors.forename: Ting
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wan
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Key Lab of Zoonosis, Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center for Prevention and Control of Important Animal Infectious Diseases and Zoonoses, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China.
authors.forename: Tianyao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lei
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Key Lab of Zoonosis, Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center for Prevention and Control of Important Animal Infectious Diseases and Zoonoses, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China.
authors.forename: Nan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Key Lab of Zoonosis, Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center for Prevention and Control of Important Animal Infectious Diseases and Zoonoses, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China.
authors.forename: Xin-An
authors.initials: XA
authors.lastname: Jiao
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Key Lab of Zoonosis, Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center for Prevention and Control of Important Animal Infectious Diseases and Zoonoses, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China.
authors.forename: Jinlin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D002169:Campylobacter Infections / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D016123:Campylobacter jejuni / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005759:Gastroenteritis / Q000209:etiology*; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D007378:Interleukins / Q000235:genetics; D007420:Intestine, Large / Q000382:microbiology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D058885:Multilocus Sequence Typing; D011817:Rabbits; D014774:Virulence / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D007378:Interleukins